How to Talk To Your Family About Your Estate Plan

The people most often affected, positively or negatively, by our planning decisions are usually those we care about the most. Despite the potential consequences of not having or sharing an estate plan, many remain too uncomfortable to openly divulge this information. This is not too surprising, as these discussions can be incredibly difficult, even between loved ones. How does one realistically sit down with a spouse, children, and grandchildren and have an open dialogue about the contents of your will?

Cheryl Curran, CFP at Merriman Wealth Management, has considered this disconcerting topic at some length and has distilled her thoughts into a free, downloadable e-book called The Transparent Legacy. In it, she proposes that these conversations, though they maintain the surface appearance of revolving around money, actually are more of a consideration of family values. She claims that this is actually good because discussing values tends to be less contentious than talking about money: “When is something more valuable than something else, and why? For example, is it more important to live longer or to live more comfortably? Is it more important to spare yourself the discomfort of talking about your wishes for a funeral or more vital to spare your adult children the job of having to agree among themselves about what you would have wanted?”

Though these conversations are difficult, the results can be among the greatest gifts you leave your loved ones after your demise.

See Paul A. Merriman, How to Talk To Your Family About Your Estate Plan, MarketWatch, November 18, 2017.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.) for bringing this article to my attention.