Estate planning

Question: We know we need to do some estate planning but we have several children and not all of them are equally fit to handle a significant inheritance. But we don’t want to disinherit them. Is a trust the answer?

Answer: Having your attorney draft a legal trust may be a part of the answer. But may I suggest an attempt at re-building relational trust before you die?

QUESTION: My first wife died many years ago. I am now married to a wonderful woman. We each have children, but none together. All are grown, some doing better than others. I just want to leave everything to my wife (or she to me) and we’ll split it equally with our children once we are both gone. What’s the simplest way to do that?

ANSWER: I appreciate your good intentions. But they are unlikely to produce good results.

Answer: One of the big rules in life and law is that you can’t take it with you. The dearly departed may go to their reward, but all that stuff they amassed while they were here – they leave that all behind. And someone has to own it.

Face it, you couldn’t control the behavior of your children when they were little – what makes you think you can control them after you are gone? But you can do the best you can to influence what happens upon your departure.