Estate Planning That Expresses Who You Are

5 Things to Talk About with Your Family

You intend to pass along your hard-earned money and property through your estate plan, but what about your wisdom? Ensuring you pass this along may call for a family meeting to discuss your finances, legacy, and core principles. This is an essential part of Estate Planning that expresses who you are.

Most families lead busy lives, with many relatives seeing one another face-to-face only on a handful of significant holidays throughout the year. The estate planning process is a perfect opportunity to bring everyone together outside those scheduled occasions—even if a child or grandchild has to attend via video chat. Discussing your estate planning that expresses who you are can make these meetings meaningful.

Working with your estate planning attorney in collaboration with other advisors in your corner can make this legacy-enriching process seamless and enjoyable. However, bringing your family into the conversation is better yet, as they will learn new things about you and share stories and memories of their own. Here are a few topics you may want to address during your family meeting:

1. Your Rich Life Story

You may think it has all been said before, but have you considered recording your personal life narrative? Your loved ones will treasure these recordings while you are still here and long after you have passed away. To customize these recordings, have your family members ask about your fondest memories and most significant challenges. You will create a sort of time capsule containing the uniqueness of your personality and the experiences that shaped you into the person you are today. Perhaps most importantly, you will be able to share the valuable lessons you have learned. This kind of Estate Planning truly expresses who you are. Your family will be better for it.

2. How You Would Like Your Wishes Honored

Estate planning involves weighty decisions regarding your long-term care and who will be responsible for managing your financial and medical affairs in the event you cannot manage them for yourself, along with how your money and property should be passed on after your death. Although these are not the sunniest topics, letting your family know why you made your particular choices is essential. It will allow your loved ones to understand firsthand the instructions included in your estate plan when the need to use it arises. This helps in estate planning that expresses who you are and why you made these decisions.

3. Your Family Tree

Your loved ones may be curious about more than your life story. Take time to review your family tree and answer questions the younger family members may have about your shared heritage. A who’s who on paper or in a digital format is an excellent gift to your loved ones that they can reference and build upon in the future. Including your family history can be a unique aspect of estate planning that expresses who you are.

4. Significant Heirlooms

Almost every family has heirlooms, each of which tells a story. It is common for estate plans to contain physical objects that matter dearly to their owners, such as antique furniture, garments, jewelry, hobby collections, and memorabilia. Keeping the story of an object alive and memorializing it in writing or through video may be more important than transferring its monetary value to the next generation. Your focus while sharing these stories will reinforce Estate Planning that indeed expresses who you are.

5. Your Core Values

Your estate plan can be customized to include specific language incorporating your values while allowing your beneficiaries to grow and explore life on their terms. Educational, incentive and charitable trusts are a few tools you may use to express your values through your estate plan. This level of detailed planning allows for Estate Planning to truly express who you are.

You are much more than the wealth you have accumulated in your life. Likewise, your estate plan is about more than your financial worth. After all, wisdom and life experiences passed down from generation to generation can be far more significant than numbers on paper. Addressing these elements ensures your estate plan expresses who you are.

We would love to help you build your estate plan to include a balanced representation of who you are and what you believe. We are here to coach you through the process of going over these topics with your family and weaving them into your estate planning tools. Book a FREE Discovery Call.