{"id":650,"date":"2015-11-25T10:55:42","date_gmt":"2015-11-25T18:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rbillingslaw.com\/blog\/?p=650"},"modified":"2015-11-23T11:04:29","modified_gmt":"2015-11-23T19:04:29","slug":"best-of-blog-thanksgiving-post-how-to-talk-finances-with-the-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rbillingslaw.com\/blog\/best-of-blog-thanksgiving-post-how-to-talk-finances-with-the-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Best of Blog: Thanksgiving Post – How to Talk Finances with the Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following is a Thanksgiving post from November 2010 on communicating with family about finances during the holidays:
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\nEstate planning is a gift.\u00a0 Ideally, executing a will or trust is unselfish.\u00a0 The intent is to benefit the heirs, while the planner gains peace of mind, but usually no financial benefit from the process.\u00a0 Many parents consider a well-drafted estate plan and an organized estate as a last gift to their children.\u00a0 Of course, many other parents never find the time to set things in order.\u00a0 So if parents have not set up a plan, should the children ask their parents to get it done?<\/p>\n

This is territory where it is wise to tread softly.\u00a0 It can be a real benefit to children when the parents\u2019 assets are in a living trust and probate is avoided, and if an encouraging word leads to that result, it should be a good thing, as long as care is taken.\u00a0 It hardly needs saying that in families where finances are not discussed, bringing up the subject of estate planning can feel even more taboo.\u00a0 It combines the uncomfortable topics of parents\u2019 finances plus anticipating the parents\u2019 demise.\u00a0 When handled inappropriately, such a discussion can leave a real bitter taste after a holiday get-together.\u00a0 Thus in starting any discussions, take pains to be tactful and respectful.\u00a0 In the article linked here<\/a>, a financial planner has written a respectful open letter from himself to parents on behalf of their adult children, encouraging the parents to \u201cengage in the process.\u201d\u00a0 The author encourages his readers to provide a copy of the letter to parents while gathering over the Thanksgiving weekend.<\/p>\n

There are other pitfalls to avoid in this process, particularly undue influence, evidence of which could be used to prevent a child from inheriting his or her share.\u00a0 Clearly, pressuring a parent to name a particular successor trustee or to disinherit a particular family member may create a case of undue influence.\u00a0 But simply driving a parent to an appointment with an estate planning attorney can also be evidence of undue influence.\u00a0 Further, some children may feel that because estate planning benefits the children and not the parents, the children should pay for the estate planning services.\u00a0 But paying for the services may also be used as evidence of undue influence.\u00a0 The best course in any effort by adult children to encourage their parents\u2019 estate planning is to be sure that it is a joint effort by all of the children and potential beneficiaries.\u00a0 Sometimes that is not possible.\u00a0 But even in that case, communication among the children and parents about these important topics is a healthy process, something worth finding time for over the Thanksgiving weekend.\u00a0 Just not during dinner.<\/p>\n

Photo copyright Elizabeth Billings 2010-2015<\/p>\n

Original November 2010 Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following is a Thanksgiving post from November 2010 on communicating with family about finances during the holidays: Estate planning is a gift.\u00a0 Ideally, executing a will or trust is unselfish.\u00a0 The intent is to benefit the heirs, while the planner … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[199,161,5],"tags":[16,14,19,15],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rbillingslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rbillingslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rbillingslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rbillingslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rbillingslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.rbillingslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651,"href":"http:\/\/www.rbillingslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650\/revisions\/651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rbillingslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rbillingslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rbillingslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}