There’s No Time Like the Present

You may have read in one of our previous posts about some of the various options available for distribution of your personal property after your death. Apparently, our firm and our readers are not the only people thinking about the possibility of such a scenario. Anne Tergesen, in her article Divvying Up the Silver, writes about a very unusual family Thanksgiving in which the parents asked their grown children to take turns choosing personal effects each would like to inherit, and marking those items “for future delivery.”

Most families are like the one described in Tergesen’s article—uncomfortable, at first, discussing the eventual passing of their parents. They may even feel that “divvying up the silver” while their parents are still alive may be viewed as greedy, insensitive and unloving.

But discussing the future with your children or parents is anything but unloving. Death is a difficult subject, and one that is best broached early, preferably when there is still enough distance for everyone to have some perspective on the subject. The last thing you want is for important decisions to be made when emotions are running high, or when your loved ones are grieving.

Let your children’s memories of your time together be happy ones, rather than painful memories of fighting over who gets which memento.  We, a your estate planning attorneys, can even include your children in your planning sessions, if that is your preference. Call our firm and plan today to get the hard stuff out of the way.