The Emotional Side of Estate Planning |
When engaging in estate planning, people often become hyper-focused on the decisions they must make, including who will receive which assets, who will fill key roles (executor, guardian, and trustee, for example), and who will hold financial and medical powers of attorney. While these are important details, people often overlook the emotions their decisions may evoke in those included in an estate plan and those left out.
It’s not uncommon during a loved one’s incapacity or after their death for family members to go head-to-head because of a well-intentioned decision someone who can no longer answer for themselves made that has come to light. Where rifts exist, the effect on relationships can be devastating and long-lasting, or permanent. Even the most tight-knit family members can turn on one another.
While an ethical will, a nonlegal letter in which a testator shares their values, beliefs, life lessons, and messages with their loved ones after they’re gone, can offer explanation, it may not be sufficient to repair bonds that have been damaged or broken by controversial choices. Nor may it be enough to soothe individuals whose feelings have been hurt or whose memories of their loved ones have been tarnished in light of what they’ve learned from a loved one’s estate plan.
If such unrest sounds distressing to you, you’re justified in feeling this way. Planning for the unthinkable is........