Getting more specific in your estate plan prevents family disputes and ensures your exact wishes are met, an article from the Indiana University’s Office of the Vice President & General Counsel points out.
“Getting more specific” means replacing broad categories with:
- itemized asset lists
- exact beneficiary names
- clear personal property memoranda for sentimental items
- specific conditions within trusts.
Having an itemized list of assets is even more important for business owners. At Geyer Legal, we’ve found that one decision too rarely considered is creating and updating the right type of property inventory. In administering estates for our Geyer Law clients, inventorying personal property often turns out to be the most time-consuming aspect of the work.
When it comes to naming beneficiaries, it’s all too easy to make expensive mistakes, we’ve learned at Geyer Law. For one thing, not all loved ones should receive assets directly, as Tracy Craig points out in a Kiplinger article (think minors, those with special needs, those with creditor issues). Assets may be lost to intended heirs in a divorce. For all these reasons, trusts may turn out to be better choices than direct beneficiary designations.
The transfer of physical belongings, especially those with sentimental value, can actually cause more stress than gratitude. Heirs will want to honor a legacy, but may not have room in their lives – or their homes and offices – for those “precious”, but in reality unwanted, items. For that very reason, at our law firm, we try, wherever possible, to bring together family members of different generations to share information about specific assets – and specific values.
The wisdom of bringing together family members of different generations to share wealth transfer strategies applies to the creation of specific conditions within trusts, we know at Geyer Legal. When stipulations are placed on bequests (either to family members or business partners), that can harm relationships and even spark litigation.
In estate planning, it’s definitely worth getting down to the details.
– by Katrin Hodson, Attorney with Geyer Legal Group
