Is There a New Paradigm in Estate Planning?

Although more and more people are realizing the importance of estate planning, it’s possible to overlook the opportunities and to walk away with very basic documents that don’t address all of your concerns. An estate plan is most likely to succeed when the heirs who benefit have a positive impact from the plans, rather than being mired in arguments with one another. All too often, that’s what happens with family members, some of whom may spend months in court battling over the documents and decisions.

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Planning for the future requires careful consideration that in many cases passes assets on to children with a plan for stewardship and responsibility. There are numerous cases where thinking well in advance is simply in everyone’s best interests, whether it’s to reduce the opportunity for conflict between children or to help make a business succession smooth. In a recent national survey, one of the leading reasons for individuals to evaluate their estate plans was to limit chaos among children.