When I looked out the window to see my clients pull in the parking lot, I saw a new sports car. The couple who entered my office was well dressed and the wife was wearing a sizable diamond ring and a designer hand bag. The intake sheet listed a home address in a lovely gated community.
The veneer of wealth vanished on page 2 of the intake form. Home equity? None. Mortgage payments? Two of them. Credit cards? A dozen maxed-out and using another to pay minimum balances.
You are thinking that this couple came to see me for bankruptcy advice. Nope. Estate Planning! They were expecting a large inheritance from husband’s mother. Due to a terminal illness, the nest egg was about to pass down the line.
According to the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College, despite the current economic downturn, more than $20 trillion will be transferred to heirs in the next 50 years — the largest transfer of wealth in U.S. history.
The prospect of an inheritance stirs a cauldron of emotions — in this case, my clients felt they deserved more than their siblings because they did so much more to take care of mom in her later years, especially during the last illness. But most parents distribute assets equally between children, not wanting to play favorites, even if one child did more for them.
Family feuds over inheritance are as old as the Bible (Jacob tricked his twin brother Esau out of his birthright and their father’s blessing), and the feuds are even more complicated in blended families. There are ex-wives and ex-husbands, children and stepchildren, parents and stepparents.
My advice: Make a plan. Don’t expect that your children will divide everything up fairly and amicably. Bitter will contestsand trust disputes are costly and can destroy family relationships. I’ve seen it happen even when there isn’t much wealth to go around to begin with.
Don’t wait until it’s too late. Plan now. Contact the law office of Debra G. Simms for an estate planning consultation.
