It’s your family, and unlike any other.
That likely means this from the perspective of estate planning and contemplated inheritances for your adult children: Take advice from third parties in only the most general sense.
Here’s why, as stressed by the online financial publication NerdWallet: Some family inheritance plans work out tremendously well when all the kids receive precisely equal inheritances, with others collapsing in discord and rancor.
“Money can cause family discord,” notes one wealth planning strategist, “and you want to make sure that you are thinking through [inheritance considerations] and keeping sibling relationships intact.”
That makes sense, of course, but it is sometimes easier said than done. How can parents best ensure that an estate outcome in the future will satisfy all the kids rather than rupture family relationships?
Unsurprisingly, the answer to that sometimes thorny question rests centrally on perceived fairness. In one family, that might well mean the exact same asset slice for every sibling, with unequal (or at least varied) inheritances being accepted as equitable in other families.
Either way, reaching the fullest possible understanding of what will work best generally requires some parental advance planning, coupled with real insight into family dynamics.
The NerdWallet piece logically points out that one or more timely discussions with all the children marked by love and candor can go far toward promoting familial harmony and a collectively generalized notion of what’s fair. Importantly, too, such conclaves enable siblings to timely clear the air on what might otherwise be delayed and sour relationships once mom and dad are gone.
Understandably, it can sometimes be difficult to engages the process. A proven and empathetic estate planning attorney can help with that.