Oftentimes, children see the inheritance from their parent’s as the final accounting of their love, so anything other than an equal split is hard to accept. However, it is possible for parents to leave inheritances that are unequal but fair. The challenging part comes with how those children will deal with such division. This is where good open communication can solve the hurt from tough decisions. Purposefully leaving money unequally requires greater foresight, so a conversation and good estate plan can help solve a lot of these problems.
See Paul Sullivan, How a Will Treating Children Differently Can Still Be Fair, NY Times, July 29, 2016.
Special thanks to Jerry Borison (Professor of Law, University of Denver Sturm College of Law) & Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.
