Where There’s a Will There’s a Way

Where There’s a Will There’s a Way

I’ve written many times about creating a will or an estate plan and all the do’s and don’ts and the importance of these documents. Today’s focus isn’t about creating that will. Today’s focus is more about what to do once the will is created.

The Order of Operations

Generally speaking, the way most wills flow is:

1. Everything goes to your spouse

2. And then from there, it gets split between your children equally

3. There’s usually a term in there called “it’s left to your heirs per stirpes,” which simply means that if I and my wife pass away, and one of my children is not alive, their portion goes to their kids equally, and their familial lineage bloodline first if they have children. And then if not, it goes to my other children. So basically, it’s a way to say their portion goes to them and their family, regardless of whether they are alive. You don’t have to do it, but that is again the most common thing that I see.

If That’s Not The Case

What happens if you don’t do that? Which is also very common for a plethora of reasons, from one child being better off, one child for whatever reason you wanted to inherit, or you have other means or ways that you want to take care of your kids, or more importantly, leave your estate behind.

This blog isn’t about judging. It’s about just pointing out proper protocol, in my opinion, from what I’ve seen in many decades of not just financial planning but life planning and estate planning with clients.

A Recommendation

So here is my recommendation. The recommendation is this: that you should be transparent in what you are doing and why. I see more families being split up or having ill feelings towards their siblings, towards their parents, or grandparents if they are not transparent. And so my recommendation is once you create the will, to then disseminate the information to your heirs and your loved ones. This way, you can have an open dialogue on it. You can explain what you’ve done and why, and you can handle it while you’re alive.

At the very least, if for whatever reason you don’t want to address these things while living, I would leave a letter or video in your will that states your rationale for why you deviated from, quote unquote, the norm. The impact this has is that it’ll leave everyone not wondering. It will leave your children or heirs not upset at one another, generally speaking. And I know I would want it if I don’t want my children to have ill will towards me when I pass away.

Communication Goes a Long Way

And so, you can front-run this by having these dialogues or communicating what you’ve done and why ahead of time. I’ve been parts of hundreds if not thousands of estate plans and I’ve seen hundreds if not thousands of clients who have had inheritances or been part of wills and I can tell you – I’ve seen it every which way and the way that I think it goes wrong is when things are not clearly communicated: your wishes, your rationale, the understanding behind it.

When you’re gone, you don’t have an opportunity to make it right or to communicate. So do it here, do it now. My call-to-action is if you’ve done a will, or I guess more specifically, if you haven’t created a will, obviously do it. But you have an opportunity today, while you’re living, to express your thoughts, your feelings, your rationale. You can be at peace with your decisions so that your loved ones can also be at peace. You can do the best that you’re able to communicate your thoughts and wishes while you’re able to do so. Even if your will is entirely run-of-the-mill, you’ll still want to communicate your wishes to your family so they know where you stand. I believe we all owe it to ourselves to leave this world on that note.

That is my wish for all of us. As always, stay wealthy, stay healthy, and stay happy.