You may be interested in bringing up estate planning with your parents. They’re getting older and you want to know if they have a plan in place. You’re just not sure how to bring the topic up.
Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to make this conversation go smoothly. It certainly can be helpful to talk about estate planning in advance, especially if your parents do not have a plan and you can help them get started. Here are two tips that will help at this time.
Make your goals very clear
First of all, tell your parents exactly why you want to have this conversation. Reiterate that you’re not just trying to figure out what or how much you’re going to inherit. This isn’t about money or assets.
Instead, you want to find out if they’ve made an estate plan because you know that the plan will help things go much more smoothly for your family. When parents pass away without a plan in place – known as dying intestate – it drastically increases the odds of estate disputes between siblings. You are just looking out for yourself and your siblings – something your parents will likely sympathize with.
Provide insights and offer to help
Another tactic that can help is to offer insights from your own estate planning. Maybe you recently got done writing a will or creating a trust, so you can tell your parents what steps you had to take and how beneficial it is. Additionally, this helps to demonstrate – once again – that you are not just asking about the estate plan because you want your inheritance. You’re making your own plan for your family, and you just want to know if your parents have done the same.
Estate planning can be complex, and there are many legal tools available. Be sure you and your family know exactly what steps to take.