3 Tips For Having A Family Discussion About Your Estate Plan

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3 Tips For Having A Family Discussion About Your Estate Plan

28 April 2021
 Categories: Law, Blog


Have you yet to create an estate plan and feel that it is now time? If so, it will help to follow these tips for creating an estate plan that works for you and your family.

Set A Time To Talk About It

The first thing that you will do when creating an estate plan is to simply talk about it with everyone in your family. It can be a tough conversation to bring up, especially if someone has been avoiding the topic because they don't want to discuss what will happen after they pass away. However, this is not a discussion that you want to have casually over dinner. It is best to set a time to talk about it when you are free of distractions so that you can have a serious conversation. Setting a time will also allow people to be emotionally prepared for the conversation, and do some thinking about what they want to talk about.

Create An Agenda 

You should go into the conversation creating an agenda for the things that you want to talk about. This can help  you stay on track to discuss a wide range of issues, and keep people on topic. If people start talking about things irrelevant to your estate planning, you can guide them back to the agenda so that you talk about the matter at hand. 

Some things to talk about include who will receive your inheritance after you pass away, as well as people you would not want to receive anything. Who the executor of your will should be, and if you need a trustee.  If you have children, you should talk about who would be their guardian and care for them until they are an adult. You do not need to make any decisions at the estate planning meeting, but it can help guide the decisions that you will need to make later on.

Meet With A Lawyer

Now that you have a basic outline of what you want to do for your estate plan, it is time to meet with a lawyer to have a more formal conversation about it. This is because a lawyer is going to ask you questions about all the things that you discussed, and you will already have a good idea about what you are in alignment on and want to have happen with your estate plan. The lawyer can then move forward with drafting the official documents for you. 

For more information, contact an estate planning attorney.