Only last week, our nation remembered Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., leader of the civil rights movement and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, whose life was cut short in 1968, at age 39, by an assassin’s bullet.Some forty years later, a headline in July 19, 2008 NBC News read: “Lawsuit deepens rift among King children”. The lawsuit claimed that Dexter King, as estate administrator, had failed to provide his siblings with certain documents and financial records. Some forty years later, a headline in the July 19, 2008 NBC News read: “Lawsuit deepens rift among King children.” (The lawsuit claimed that Dexter King, as estate administrator, had failed to provide his siblings with certain documents and financial records.)
“Without a will in place, Dr. King’s family was left to battle over the estate, including management of Dr. King’s assets which are considered to be national treasures,” the Heights Law group blog post observes. If Dr. King’s personal effects had been given to specific people, or if a trust had been established, much, if not all, of the ongoing fighting could have been prevented, the authors point out.
“Better now than never,” I advised in this Geyer Law blog a little over a year ago, citing Warren Buffett’s advice to parents to let adult children read your will before you sign it. As longtime Indiana estate planning attorneys, we’ve learned the value of facilitating family conferences:
- the younger generation becomes acquainted with us as members of their parents’ advisory team
- parents have the chance to openly share the values and assumptions that have gone into their estate planning choices
- issues and misunderstandings can be brought “out on the table” while everyone is there to participate
Does having properly-drafted documents and family conferences ensure there will be no conflicts, disputes, or misunderstandings when an estate is being settled? Of course not. Verbal promises have sometimes been made that were not formalized in the documents. Relationships and situations change before those can be reflected by rewriting the documents. Clients’ lives “happen”.
An article by Sibley Law & Associates of Florida highlights instances when “legal documents create legal disasters”, and emphasizes the importance of passing down “not just money, but values, stories, and personal messages to the people you love most.” ,
In July of last year, on the release of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination files, Martin Luther King III and Dr. Bernice King said “Let us move forward together.” At Geyer Law, we believe, “moving forward together” and avoiding family rifts is the core function of estate planning.
– by Cara Chittenden, Attorney with Geyer Legal Group, PC
