So, you have done your estate planning, titled the assets, and chosen your trustees and beneficiaries, but have you shared this with your family? You intend to pass along your hard-earned money and property through your estate plan, but what about your wisdom? Ensuring this may call for a family meeting to discuss your finances, legacy, and core principles.
Most families lead busy lives, with many relatives seeing one another face-to-face only on a handful of significant holidays throughout the year. The estate planning process is a perfect opportunity to bring everyone together outside those scheduled occasions—even if a child or grandchild must attend via video chat.
Working with your estate planning attorney and other advisors in your corner can make this legacy-enriching process seamless and enjoyable. Bringing your family into the conversation is better yet, as they will learn new things about you and share stories and memories of their own. Here are a few topics you may want to address during your family meeting:
You may think it has all been said before, but have you considered recording your personal life narrative? Your loved ones will treasure these recordings while you are still here and long after you have passed away. To customize these recordings, have your family members ask about your fondest memories and most significant challenges. You will create a time capsule containing the uniqueness of your personality and the experiences that shaped you into the person you are today. Perhaps most importantly, you can share the valuable lessons you have learned. Your family will be better for it.
Estate planning involves weighty decisions about your long-term care and who will be responsible for managing your financial and medical affairs if you cannot manage them for yourself, along with how your money and property should be passed on after your death. Although these are not the sunniest topics, letting your family know why you made your choices is essential. It will allow your loved ones to understand firsthand the instructions in your estate plan when the need to use it arises.
Your loved ones may be curious about more than your life story. Review your family tree and answer your younger family members' questions about your shared heritage. A who’s who on paper or in a digital format, such as Ancestry, is an excellent gift to your loved ones so they can reference and build upon it in the years to come. What do they know about your parents and great-grandparents?
Almost every family has heirlooms, each of which tells a story. Estate plans often contain physical objects that matter dearly to their owners, such as antique furniture, garments, jewelry, hobby collections, and memorabilia. Keeping an object's story alive and memorializing it in writing or through video may be more important than transferring its monetary value to the next generation. It is an excellent time to designate who gets what and learn what they want.
Your estate plan can be customized to include specific language incorporating your values while allowing your beneficiaries to grow and explore life on their terms. Educational incentives and charitable trusts are a few tools you may use to express your values through your estate plan.
You are much more than the wealth you have accumulated in your life. Likewise, your estate plan is about more than your financial worth. Wisdom and life experiences passed down from generation to generation can be far more significant than numbers on paper.
If you have completed your estate planning but wish to discuss these topics with your family, call your estate planning team and financial advisors to get tips on how to do this. The attorneys at Altman & Associates can be contacted at 301-468-3220 or through the website at altmanassociates.net.
