There are some things that are hard to talk to our parents about. One of those difficult topics is their estate plan (or, in many cases, the lack thereof).
If you are like most people, having the utmost respect for your parents and not wanting to be perceived as prying into their personal business, you probably are hesitant to bring up the subject. And you certainly don’t want to come across as being a greedy kid worrying about when you’ll get your hands on Mom and Dad’s money.
However, there might not be a more important discussion to have with your mom or dad than what they want to happen when they die or become disabled. And even though it might be hard to broach the subject, here are some reasons why it is definitely worth the effort:
The fact is that the failure to confront and address the issues resulting from a parent’s disability or death can have significant – even catastrophic – consequences for a family, and most of these nightmares can be avoided if mom and dad have an up-to-date estate plan that accomplishes their goals.
While it might be uncomfortable to bring up the subject, what is even worse is facing the consequences of poor or inadequate planning after it is too late to do anything about it. So, it may be a good idea to start this conversation with your parents. As they say, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
We hope this is helpful to you. Please let us know if we can be of assistance.
Our Initial Estate Planning Consultation is designed to give you the opportunity to find out about our firm, our approach to estate planning, and to help you decide if our services fit your needs and objectives. It is also designed to give you all of the information you need in order to determine what planning is right for you and your family.
