You may be thinking, in regards to your estate, that planning may lead you to disclose information about your assets to people you don’t want to tell. You may be thinking, “Why should I tell them anything?”
Some families have poor communications and it shows when someone decides to plan their estate.
“Net worth is a matter of personal business. It is private. No one needs to know any of it right now. When the time comes, they’ll find out soon enough.” Anon.
The sentiments expressed above, especially the last sentence, send chills up and down my spine. Why? ‘Cause “soon enough” usually means that for the beneficiaries and family, the s-t is about to hit the fan at a time that it very emotional, making it twice as bad.
Communicate Your Intentions
Here are just some of the reasons why communication is of critical importance:
- Your Attorney or Estate Trustee must be able to get a handle on your assets and gain control over them before he or she can begin to act effectively. They need full disclosure.
- Your children are the ones who are going to suffer the shrinkage in your estate before it gets to them. There may be ways to reduce the SHRINKAGE.
- Your children are adults and should be made aware of the potential shrinkage and the costs of reducing it then be given the opportunity to pay for the solution that will preserve money for them
- If you do not communicate and you become incompetent, your Attorney will substitute his/her judgment for yours which may make your carefully developed asset base unravel.
- Assets are sometimes missed altogether and don’t get uncovered for years, if at all.
- The Attorney or Estate Trustee you have selected may choose to walk away because he/she is not prepared for the enormity of the responsibility not having been informed or prepared beforehand.
- Being prepared keeps the costs down! Besides, whether your children know what you have or not, is not going to make it easier for them to borrow money from you or give them any control over any of your assets.