Three Important Things to Consider for Estate Planning

Your estate plan is incomplete until you consider the following three matters. From my years of experience, these items have been the cause of unnecessary litigation and much family friction if not addressed:

1.

Heirlooms and significant personal property- My wills have a provision which signifies that the client may have a handwritten list, dated and signed by the client leaving certain tangible personal property to specific individuals.

In the past, people used to enumerate certain property such as jewelry, heirlooms, or valuable art to go to certain relatives or friends. The problem occurred when the person either sold or transferred these items during his or her lifetime or there was a change of mind about who should get what. In those days, one had to make a new will or codicil for the changes in this gift giving. No more. Now a person can make the designation by a handwritten memorandum which can be changed from time to time without having to redo the will.

Importance: Besides the ease in making these changes, many children of the deceased fight over these items rather than cash inheritances. The reason is sentimentality or the feeling that without these items, they have been slighted or siblings have been favored by their parents. Since most of these items involve emotion and sentiment, it is often very hard and expensive to resolve these by the lawyer.

2.

 Burial and celebration of life arrangements- Be sure to put in writing how you wish to be remembered upon your death and make arrangements for your body. Do you want to be cremated, buried in a family plot, buried in a new cemetery or mausoleum? Do you want a formal religious service, no service, a celebration of life or something else? Write it down and keep it with your will and provide a copy to your executor in advance.

Importance: When multiple heirs are involved, they often have incorrect or conflicting ideas of how a decedent’s last wishes are to be carried out. Often children have different recollections of what the decedent said, or what his or her wishes were. This can lead to immediate conflict when emotions are at their peak-right after the death of the loved one-particularly when the death is sudden.

3.

Unequal distributions to family members-Another big area of conflict is when a loved one, particularly a parent, leaves unequal gifts to the children, or even their own siblings. There can be many reasons for this treatment such as paying for college for one child when another child went to trade school or directly out to the workforce. Or, one child will inherit the business to the exclusion of siblings. Or a child was a caretaker while others lived far away.

Importance: While the decedent might be trying to “even up” the gifts to children or others, the beneficiaries might not understand the reasoning if nothing is put in writing. Unfortunately, this sometimes leads to prolonged litigation with the siblings who felt slighted suing those receiving more assets and can even result in siblings not speaking to each other for the rest of their lives. Writing a letter to all the beneficiaries to explain why the estate is being divided a certain way can help mitigate this risk and maintain peace among your family members. The letter does not have to be a deathbed letter, often when the loved one’s decisions are made, the letter can be sent long before the death of the parent.