November 14, 2018

Many families avoid the process of estate planning altogether but even those who take the necessary steps to schedule a consultation with an estate planning attorney can still cause problems for their loved ones in the future due to lack of communication.

It is certainly not easy to confront your own mortality and definitely not any easier to discuss it with your family members. This is particularly true if you don’t intend to pass things on in an equal fashion.

However, an estate planning attorney can help you to avoid many of these difficult challenges and help you to prepare for the communication expectations. Once your children are old enough, you should include them in the planning process because the common mistake of failing to communicate with your children can avoid problems down the road. Once your children have reached a certain age, you can share exactly how much you own, where the assets are located and how you want them dispersed. 

There should never be surprises when you pass away, otherwise, this can put your loved ones in the position of dealing with missed planning opportunities.

The support of an experienced estate planning lawyer is instrumental in accomplishing your estate planning goals and giving you the necessary peace of mind to accomplish these with ease. It can be challenging to adapt your estate plan if you don’t have an existing relationship with a trusted lawyer and it can also be hard to figure out how to broach these conversations with your loved ones in a way that does not inflame any further conflict.

Thankfully, lawyers who are familiar with these types of conversations can advise you about the mistakes to avoid and what is truly necessary to share with your loved ones. They can also provide you some insight on various planning tools that can help you to pass on assets if you do not intend to give equal shares of your estate to children. Strategic planning and estate planning tactics used in advance can avoid many problems.