Listen To Your Conscience When It Comes To Leaving Money To Your Children
Children don’t come with an instruction manual. There is plenty of advice available about how to behave toward your children, but it only serves to make you feel more insecure and confused; therefore, it is the opposite of helpful when it comes to decision making. This is true when you are trying to get babies to sleep; for every person who will disapprove if you let a baby cry alone in a crib, there is someone who will disapprove if you buckle the baby into his stroller and walk around the neighborhood until your feet are sore. It is also true when it comes to toddler mealtimes, elementary school homework help, preteens and cell phones, or teens and cars. There is just as much cacophony and just as few answers when it comes to leaving money or other assets to your children in your will. The decision of how to apportion your assets in your will belongs to you alone, and you have the right to leave as much or as little money to each of your children as you choose. For guidance on providing for your children or other beneficiaries in your estate plan, contact an Orlando estate planning lawyer.
Equal Is Not Always the Most Equitable
Gratitude is a good place to start when it comes to estate planning. If you are trying to decide whether to give your children equal or unequal shares of your estate, it means that you have more than one surviving child. The worst thing you can do is to not make any plans at all. If you do not have any plans for your long-term care, the final disposition of your remains, or the probate of your estate, your children could end up resenting each other, and the whole family could end up in a worse financial position.
You have the right to leave your children equal inheritances even if one child is in a better financial situation than the other. You also have the right to leave more money to the child who needs it the most. Playing favorites from beyond the grave, whether in the form of your will or a family trust, is a recipe for sibling rivalry that you will not be around to mediate.
What If Your Children Don’t Need the Money?
Few of us are in the position where all of our children are so financially secure that money they inherit from us would not buy them anything they really need. If you are in this position, you should leave each of your children a modest amount of money, more to show them that you care than because they need it. You should leave the rest of your money to an organization where the money will benefit people who need it. This is a recipe for gratitude from all parties.
Contact Gierach and Gierach About Estate Planning With an Orientation Toward Gratitude
An estate planning lawyer can help you build your estate plan based on love and not on vindictiveness or greed. Contact Gierach and Gierach, P.A. in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
kiplinger.com/retirement/estate-planning-unequal-inheritances-talking-is-key
