King & Wood, P.A.

What Kind of Estate Planning Mistakes Do People Make?

“Many people plan their estates diligently, with input from legal, tax and financial professionals. Others plan earnestly but make mistakes that can potentially affect both the transfer and destiny of family wealth.”

Estate planning for any sized estate is an important responsibility to loved ones. Done correctly, it can help families flourish over generations, control how legacies are distributed and convey values from parents to children to grandchildren. However, a failed estate plan, says a recent article from Suffolk News-Herald titled “Estate planning mistakes to avoid,” can create bitter divisions between family members, become an expensive burden and even add unnecessary stress to a time of intense grief.

Here are some errors to avoid:

This is not the time for do-it-yourself estate planning.

An unexpected example comes from the late Chief Justice Warren Burger. Yes, even justices make mistakes with estate planning! He wrote a 176 word will, which cost his heirs more than $450,000 in estate taxes and fees. A properly prepared will could have saved the family a huge amount of money, time and anxiety.

Don’t neglect to update your will or trust.

Life happens and relationships change. When a new person enters your life, whether by birth, adoption, marriage or other event, your estate planning wishes may change. The same goes for people departing your life. Death and divorce should always trigger an estate plan review.

Don’t be coy with heirs about your estate plan.

Heirs don’t need to know down to the penny what you intend to leave them but be wise enough to convey your purpose and intentions. If you are leaving more money to one child than to another, it would be a great kindness to the children’s relationship, if you explained why you are doing so. If you want your family to remain a family, share your thinking and your goals.

If there are certain possessions you know your family members value, making a list those items and who should get what. This will avoid family squabbles during a difficult time. Often it is not the money, but the sentimental items that cause family fights after a parent dies.

Understand what happens if you are not married to your partner.

Unmarried partners do not receive many of the estate tax breaks or other benefits of the law enjoyed by married couples. Unless you have an estate plan and a valid will in place, your partner will not be protected. Owning property jointly is just one part of an estate plan. Sit down with an experienced estate planning attorney to protect each other. The same applies to planning for incapacity. You will want to have a HIPAA release form and Power of Attorney for Health Care, so you are able to speak with each other’s medical providers.

Don’t neglect to fund a trust once it is created.

It’s easy to create a trust and it’s equally easy to forget to fund the trust. That means retitling assets that have been placed in the trust or adding enough assets to a trust, so it may function as designed. Failing to retitle assets has left many people with estate plans that did not work.

Please don’t be naive about caregivers with designs on your assets or relatives, who appear after long periods of estrangement.

It is not pleasant to consider that people in your life may not be interested in your well-being, but in your finances. However, this must remain front and center during the estate planning process. Elder financial abuse and scams are extremely common. Family members and seemingly devoted caregivers have often been found to have ulterior motives. Be smart enough to recognize when this occurs in your life.

Reference: Suffolk News-Herald (Dec. 15, 2020) “Estate planning mistakes to avoid”

How Can Blended Families Use Estate Planning to Protect All of the Siblings?

“No matter how solid the relationships might be, it is important for parents to be aware how blended families can create unique estate planning issues.”

If two adult children in a blended family receive a lot more financial help from their parent and stepparents than other children, there may be expectations that the parent’s estate plan will be structured to address any unequal distributions. This unique circumstance requires a unique solution, as explained in the article “Estate Planning: A Trust Can Be Used to Protect Blended Families” from The Daily Sentinel. Blended families in which adult children and stepchildren have grandchildren also require unique estate planning.

Blended families face the question of what happens if one parent dies and the surviving step parent remarries. If the deceased spouse’s estate was given to the surviving step parent, will those assets be used to benefit the deceased spouse’s children, or will the new spouse and their children be the sole beneficiaries?

In a perfect world, all children would be treated equally, and assets would flow to the right heirs.  However, that does not always happen. There are many cases where the best of intentions is clear to all, but the death of the first spouse in a blended marriage change everything.

Other events occur that change how the deceased’s estate is distributed. If the surviving step-spouse suffers from Alzheimer’s or experiences another serious disease, their judgement may become impaired.

All of these are risks that can be avoided, if proper estate planning is done by both parents while they are still well and living. Chief among these is a trust,  a simple will does not provide the level of control of assets needed in this situation. Don’t leave this to chance—there’s no way to know how things will work out.

A trust can be created, so the spouse will have access to assets while they are living. When they pass, the remainder of the trust can be distributed to the children.

If a family that has helped out two children more than others, as mentioned above, the relationships between the siblings that took time to establish need to be addressed, while the parents are still living. This can be done with a gifting strategy, where children who felt their needs were being overlooked may receive gifts of any size that might be appropriate, to stem any feelings of resentment.

That is not to say that parents need to use their estate to satisfy their children’s expectations. However, in the case of the family above, it is a reasonable solution for that particular family and their dynamics.

A good estate plan addresses the parent’s needs and takes the children’s needs into consideration. Every parent needs to address their children’s unique needs and be able to distinguish their needs from wants. A gifting strategy, trusts and other estate planning tools can be explored in a consultation with an experienced estate planning attorney, who creates estate plans specific to the unique needs of each family.

Reference: The Daily Sentinel (Dec. 16, 2020) “Estate Planning: A Trust Can Be Used to Protect Blended Families”

SECURE Act has Changed Special Needs Planning

“An applicable multi-beneficiary trust can solve some--but not all--of the challenges that the new act presents.”

The SECURE Act eliminated the life expectancy payout for inherited IRAs for most people, but it also preserved the life expectancy option for five classes of eligible beneficiaries, referred to as “EDBs” in a recent article from Morningstar.com titled “Providing for Disabled Beneficiaries After the SECURE Act.” Two categories that are considered EDBs are disabled individuals and chronically ill individuals. Estate planning needs to be structured to take advantage of this option.

The first step is to determine if the individual would be considered disabled or chronically ill within the specific definition of the SECURE Act, which uses almost the same definition as that used by the Social Security Administration to determine eligibility for SS disability benefits.

A person is deemed to be “chronically ill” if they are unable to perform at least two activities of daily living or if they require substantial supervision because of cognitive impairment. A licensed healthcare practitioner certifies this status, typically used when a person enters a nursing home and files a long-term health insurance claim.

However, if the disabled or ill person receives any kind of medical care, subsidized housing or benefits under Medicaid or any government programs that are means-tested, an inheritance will disqualify them from receiving these benefits. They will typically need to spend down the inheritance (or have a court authorized trust created to hold the inheritance), which is likely not what the IRA owner had in mind.

Typically, a family member wishing to leave an inheritance to a disabled person leaves the inheritance to a Supplemental Needs Trust or SNT. This allows the individual to continue to receive benefits but can pay for things not covered by the programs, like eyeglasses, dental care, or vacations. However, does the SNT receive the same life expectancy payout treatment as an IRA?

Thanks to a special provision in the SECURE Act that applies only to the disabled and the chronically ill, a SNT that pays nothing to anyone other than the EDB can use the life expectancy payout. The SECURE Act calls this trust an “Applicable Multi-Beneficiary Trust,” or AMBT.

For other types of EDB, like a surviving spouse, the individual must be named either as the sole beneficiary or, if a trust is used, must be the sole beneficiary of a conduit trust to qualify for the life expectancy payout. Under a conduit trust, all distributions from the inherited IRA or other retirement plan must be paid out to the individual more or less as received during their lifetime. However, the SECURE Act removes that requirement for trusts created for the disabled or chronically ill.

However, not all of the SECURE Act’s impact on special needs planning is smooth sailing. The AMBT must provide that nothing may be paid from the trust to anyone but the disabled individual while they are living. What if the required minimum distribution from the inheritance is higher than what the beneficiary needs for any given year? Let’s say the trustee must withdraw an RMD of $60,000, but the disabled person’s needs are only $20,000? The trust is left with $40,000 of gross income, and there is nowhere for the balance of the gross income to go.

In the past, SNTs included a provision that allowed the trustee to pass excess income to other family members and deduct the amount as distributable net income, shifting the tax liability to family members who might be in a lower tax bracket than the trust.

Special Needs Planning under the SECURE Act has raised this and other issues, which can be addressed by an experienced estate planning attorney.

Reference: Morningstar.com (Dec. 9, 2020) “Providing for Disabled Beneficiaries After the SECURE Act”

What You Should Never, Ever, Include in Your Will

“A last will and testament are the foundation of an estate plan, which lets you plan for your estate after you’re gone. However, there are certain things that you might not want to put in your will.”

A last will and testament is a straightforward estate planning tool, used to determine the beneficiaries of your assets when you die, and, if you have minor children, nominating a guardian who will raise your children. Wills can be very specific but can’t enforce all of your wishes. For example, if you want to leave your niece your car, but only if she uses it to attend college classes, there won’t be a way to enforce those terms in a will, says the article “Things you should never put in your will” from MSN Money.

If you have certain terms you want met by beneficiaries, your best bet is to use a trust, where you can state the terms under which your beneficiaries will receive distributions or assets.

Leaving things out of your will can actually benefit your heirs, because in most cases, they will get their inheritance faster. Here’s why: when you die, your will must be validated in a court of law before any property is distributed. The process, called probate, takes a certain amount of time, and if there are issues, it might be delayed. If someone challenges the will, it can take even longer.

However, property that is in a trust or in payable-on-death (POD) titled accounts pass directly to your beneficiaries outside of a will.

Don’t put any property or assets in a will that you don’t own outright. If you own any property jointly, upon your death the other owner will become the sole owner. This is usually done by married couples in community property states.

A trust may be the solution for more control. When you put assets in a trust, title is held by the trust. Property that is titled as owned by the trust becomes subject to the rules of the trust and is completely separate from the will. Since the trust operates independently, it is very important to make sure the property you want to be held by the trust is titled properly and to not include anything in your will that is owned by the trust.

Certain assets are paid out to beneficiaries because they feature a beneficiary designation. They also should not be mentioned in the will. You should check to ensure that your beneficiary designations are up to date every few years, so the right people will own these assets upon your death.

Here are a few accounts that are typically passed through beneficiary designations:

• Bank accounts
• Investments and brokerage accounts
• Life insurance polices
• Retirement accounts and pension plans.

Another way to pass property outside of the will, is to own it jointly. If you and a sibling co-own stocks in a jointly owned brokerage account and you die, your sibling will continue to own the account and its investments. This is known as joint tenancy with rights of survivorship.

Business interests can pass through a will, but that is not your best option. An estate planning attorney can help you create a succession plan that will take the business out of your personal estate and create a far more efficient way to pass the business along to family members, if that is your intent. If a partner or other owners will be taking on your share of the business after death, an estate planning attorney can be instrumental in creating that plan.

Funeral instructions don’t belong in a will. Family members may not get to see that information until long after the funeral. You may want to create a letter of instruction, a less formal document that can be used to relay these details.

Your account numbers, including passwords and usernames for online accounts, do not belong in a will. Remember a will becomes a public document, so anything you don’t want the general public to know after you have passed should not be in your will.

Reference: MSN Money (Dec. 8, 2020) “Things you should never put in your will”

Estate Planning Is Best When Personalized

 

“When something is tailored to one’s needs, everything can go smoother.”

Just as a custom-tailored suit fits better than one off the rack, a custom-tailored estate plan works better for families. Making sure assets pass to the right person is more likely to occur when documents are created just for you, advises the article “Tailoring estate to specific needs leads to better plans” from the Cleveland Jewish News.

The most obvious example is a family with a special needs member. Generic estate planning documents typically will not suit that family’s estate planning.

Every state has its own laws about distributing property and money owned by a person at their death, in cases where people don’t have a will. Relying on state law instead of a will is a risky move that can lead to people you may not even know inheriting your entire estate.

In the absence of an estate plan, the probate court makes decisions about who will administer the estate and the distribution of property. Without a named executor, the court will appoint a local attorney to take on this responsibility. An appointed attorney who has never met the decedent and doesn’t know the family won’t have the insights to follow the decedent’s wishes.

The same risks can occur with online will templates. Their use often results in families needing to retain an estate planning attorney to fix the mistakes caused by their use. Online wills may not be valid in your state or may lead to unintended consequences. Saving a few dollars now could end up costing your family thousands to clean up the mess.

Estate plans are different for each person because every person and every family are different. Estate plan templates may not account for any of your wishes.

Generic plans are very limited. An estate plan custom created for you takes into consideration your family dynamics, how your individual beneficiaries will be treated and expresses your wishes for your family after you have passed.

Generic estate plans also don’t reflect the complicated families of today. Some people have family members they do not want to inherit anything. Disinheriting someone successfully is not as easy as leaving them out of the will or leaving them a small token amount.

Ensuring that your wishes are followed and that your will is not easily challenged takes the special skills of an experienced estate planning attorney.

Reference: Cleveland Jewish News (Dec. 9, 2020) “Tailoring estate to specific needs leads to better plans”

Ignore Retirement Myths

“A comfortable, secure retirement is one of the biggest financial goals you can strive for. Therefore, as you're saving and investing in pursuit of it, it's crucial to separate fact from fiction—otherwise, your plan could go off track.”

While you’re busy planning to retire, chances are good you’ll run into more than a few retirement myths, things that people who otherwise seem sincere and sensible are certain of. However, don’t get waylaid because any one of these retirement myths could do real harm to your plans for an enjoyable retirement. That’s the lesson from a recent article titled “Let’s Leave These 3 Retirement Myths in 2020’s Dust” from Auburn.pub.

You can keep working as long as you want. It’s easy to say this when you are healthy and have a secure job but counting on a delayed retirement strategy leaves you open to many pitfalls. Nearly 40% of current retirees report having retired earlier than planned, according to a study from the Aegon Center for Longevity and Retirement. Job losses and health issues are the reasons most people gave for their change of plans. A mere 15% of those surveyed who left the workplace before they had planned on retiring, said they did so because their finances made it possible.

Decades before you plan to retire, you should have a clear understanding of how much of a nest egg you need to retire, while living comfortably during your senior years—which may last for one, two, three or even four decades. If your current plan is far from hitting that target, don’t expect working longer to make up for the shortfall. You might have no control over when you retire, so saving as much as you can right now to prepare is the best defense.

Medicare will cover all of your medical care. Medicare will cover some of costs, but it doesn’t pay for everything. Original Medicare (Parts A and B) covers hospital visits and outpatient care but doesn’t cover vision and dental care. It also doesn’t cover prescription drug costs. Most people do not budget enough in their retirement income plans to cover the costs of medical care, from wellness visits to long-term care. Medicare Advantage plans can provide more extensive coverage, but they often come with higher premiums. The average out-of-pocket healthcare cost for most people is $300,000 throughout retirement.

Social Security is going to disappear. Nearly 90% of Americans depend upon Social Security to fund at least a part of their retirement, according to a Gallup poll, making this federal program a lifeline for Americans. Social Security does have some financial challenges. Since the early 1980s, the program took in more money in payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits, and the surplus went into a trust fund. However, the enormous number of Baby Boomers retiring made 2020, saw the first year the program paid out more money than it took in.

To compensate, it has had to make up the difference with withdrawals from the trust funds. As the number of retirees continues to rise, the surplus may be depleted by 2034. At that point, the Social Security Administration will rely on payroll taxes for retiree benefits. However, that’s if Congress doesn’t figure out a solution before 2034. Benefits may be reduced, but they aren’t going away.

Saving for retirement is challenging but focusing on the facts will help you remain focused on retirement goals, and not ghost stories. Your retirement planning should also include preparing and maintaining your estate plan.

Reference: Auburn.pub (Dec. 13, 2020) “Let’s Leave These 3 Retirement Myths in 2020’s Dust”

 

Annalise R. Kapusta is admitted to the Georgia Bar!

On January 7, 2021, attorney Annalise Reeves Kapusta of our firm was sworn in as a member of the Georgia Bar by Thomas County Superior Court Judge James E. Hardy. Ms. Kapusta is now licensed as an Attorney, Solicitor, and Counselor, in the trial courts of Georgia. She is also licensed in Florida.

Annalise R. Kapusta joined the Tallahassee-based law firm of King & Wood, P.A. upon her graduation from the Florida State University College of Law (J.D., magna cum laude) in May 2019. Her law practice is concentrated mainly in the areas of real property (including closings), wills, trusts, probate estates, and related litigation.

At FSU Law, Ms. Kapusta was a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law and was a member of the Mock Trial Team. She served as a teaching assistant to the late President Emeritus and Professor Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte and as a law clerk to Administrative Law Judge Bram Canter. She received four book awards and earned an Environmental Law Certificate. During her third year of law school, Ms. Kapusta served as a Florida Gubernatorial Fellow in the Office of the Chief Inspector General and received the 2019 Governor Jeb Bush Award for Outstanding Achievement.

Ms. Kapusta is a 2015 summa cum laude graduate of Florida State University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and received dual baccalaureate degrees in English Literature and Media/Communication Studies, with minors in Religion and Italian. Before law school, Ms. Kapusta worked as an editor in the Florida Senate’s Bill Drafting Office. Ms. Kapusta is a native of Sarasota, Florida.

Congratulations, Annalise!

Estate Planning Lessons from Celebrities for ‘Regular’ People

 

“The tragic recent death of Tony Hsieh, the 46-year-old former CEO of Zappos, reminds us of the importance of estate planning.”

Hsieh, former CEO of Zappos, left behind an estate worth an estimated $840 million and no estate plan, reports Forbes in a recent article titled “Lessons From The Rich And Famous: Why Estate Planning Should Be Part Of Your Retirement Plan.” The family had to file with the court to have family members appointed executors of his estate. Hsieh is not the only famous and wealthy person to leave his family to pick up the pieces.

Prince’s name has become synonymous with what happens when there is a lot of money at stake and no will. In addition to navigating the challenges of family members and strangers coming out of the woodwork, the taxes paid by his estate will sustain many municipal projects for years to come in Minneapolis and Minnesota.

Aretha Franklin’s failure to have a proper estate plan created a different kind of tangle. She had four adult sons, so you might think they would inherit equal portions. The discovery of three wills, one tucked under couch cushions, were proof she did have a will. However, one of her sons has special needs, so it’s not a matter of simply issuing checks. The resignation of the executor, amid claims of gross mismanagement and a host of other problems, has also created an expensive mess that will delay the settlement of the estate for a long period of time.

For the Hsieh family, his father, and one brother have asked for a court order to access accounts and protect assets. His mother and another brother were listed as next of kin.

Having a properly prepared estate plan, a will and trust, is something everyone should have. However, the legal documents alone don’t prevent all family fights.

When Tom Petty died at age 66, he did have an estate plan. His widow was named the sole trustee of his estate, which included valuable publishing rights to his extensive catalog of music. He made it known that he wanted his wife to seek input from his daughters as to how the estate would be managed. The estate battles were eventually settled, but not after a public clash between the daughters and their mother.

Alan Thicke died unexpectedly, and he did have an estate plan, including a trust set up with his sons as co-trustees. However, the battle between the sons and his widow became costly and public.

The lesson for the rest of us is that estate planning is about more than documents. Good estate planning includes conversations with family members, realistically addressing the family dynamics.

Some estate plans get little media attention because they work well. The Walton family, whose father Sam Walton created Wal-Mart, used grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs) and other estate tax savings techniques to keep estate and gift taxes in control and build wealth across generations.

Names like Steve Jobs and Burt Reynolds were in the headlines while they were alive, but we’re not hearing about their estates, because their estate plans were done well. It is possible to create a good estate plan that protects the family from fighting, keeps the estate plan private and leaves a legacy of good will.

Reference: Forbes (Dec. 11, 2020) “Lessons From The Rich And Famous: Why Estate Planning Should Be Part Of Your Retirement Plan”

What Steps to Take when Dementia Begins

“Holiday season is often a time when out-of-town children visit their parents for the first time in a while and notice that one of their parents has declined since they last saw them.”

Covid-19 has made travelling more difficult, so holiday visits this year may not be the same triggering event they were in the past. However, even an online holiday visit can reveal a great deal of change, reports a recent article “Elder Care: When the children don’t notice” from The Sentinel.

An elderly spouse caring for another elderly spouse may not notice that their loved one’s needs have increased. Caregiving may have started as the spouse needing a reminder to take a shower on a regular basis. As dementia progresses, the spouse may not be able to shower by themselves.

This quickly becomes exhausting and unsafe. If one spouse suddenly does not recognize the other and perceives their spouse as an intruder, a dangerous situation may occur, repeatedly. It’s time to discuss this with the children, if they are not available to notice this decline in person.

People are often reluctant to tell out-of-town children about this problem because they don’t want the added stress of having the children come to the rescue and making decisions that may be overwhelming. The children may also think they can come out for a visit and fix everything in the space of a few days. It’s not an easy situation for anyone.

A starting point, especially when early-stage dementia has been diagnosed, is to get an estate plan in place immediately, while the person still has the capacity to sign legal documents. Anyone who is old enough for Medicare (and anyone else, for that matter) needs to have an updated last will and testament, durable financial power of attorney for financial matters and a health care power of attorney, including a living will.

The financial power of attorney document will be the most practical because the family will be able to access financial accounts and make decisions without having to petition the court to appoint a guardian. A professional guardian might be appointed, which is extremely expensive and there have been situations where the professional guardian makes decisions the family does not want. A family member who can act under the power of attorney may be a much better solution for all concerned.

Speak with your estate planning attorney to be sure the POA permits wealth preservation. If it contains the phrase “limited gifting,” you want to discuss this and likely change it. You should also be sure that there is a secondary and even a third backup agent, in case there are any issues with the people named as POA.

Spouses typically have wills that leave everything to their spouse, and then equally among their children, if the spouse dies first. However, what if your spouse is in a nursing home when you die? The cost of nursing home care can quickly exhaust all funds. If any family member is receiving government benefits and then inherits directly, they could lose important government benefits. These are all matters to discuss with your estate planning attorney.

Have a conversation with your children about your healthcare advance directive. It’s not an easy conversation, but when the children know what their parents want concerning end-of-life care decisions, it relieves an enormous burden for all. Get specific—do you want a feeding tube to keep you alive? What about if the only thing keeping them alive is a heart-lung machine? Better to have these conversations now, than in the hospital when emotions are running high.

Another important document today is the HIPAA release. This permits healthcare providers to discuss and share information about your loved one’s medical care. Without it, even close family members are not legally permitted to be part of the conversation about health care, lab test results, etc.

Reference: The Sentinel (Dec. 11, 2020) “Elder Care: When the children don’t notice”

How Much Should We Tell the Children about the Estate Plan?

 

“Even those with thorough estate plans might have neglected to discuss details with potential heirs.”

Congratulations, if you have finished your estate plan. You and your estate planning attorney created a plan that is suited for your family, you have checked on beneficiary designations, signed all of the necessary documents and named an executor to carry out your directions when you pass. However, have you talked about your estate plan with your adult children? That is the issue explored in the recent article entitled “What to tell your adult kids when planning your estate” from CNBC. It can be a tricky one.

There are certain parts of estate plans that should be shared with adult children, even if money is not among them. Family conflict is common in many cases, whether the estate is worth $50,000 or $50 million. So, even if your estate plan is perfect, it might hold a number of surprises for your children, if you don’t speak with them while you are living.

The best estate plan can bequeath resentment and enduring family conflicts, if family members don’t have a head’s up about what you’ve planned and why.

If you die without a will, there can be even more problems for the family. With no will—called dying “intestate”—it is up to the courts in your state to decide who inherits what. This is a public process, so your life’s work is on display for all to see. If your heirs have a history of fighting, especially over who deserves what, dying without a will can make a bad family situation worse.

Not everything about an estate plan has to do with distribution of possessions. Much of an estate plan is concerned with protecting you, while you are alive.

For starters, your estate planning attorney can help you with a Power of Attorney. You’ll name a person who will handle your finances, if you become unable to do so because of illness or injury. A Healthcare Power of Attorney is used to empower a trusted person to make medical decisions for you, if you are incapacitated. Some estate planning attorneys recommend having a Living Will, also called an Advance Healthcare Directive, to convey end-of-life wishes, if you want to be kept alive through artificial means.

These documents do not require that you name a family member. A friend or colleague you trust and know to be responsible can carry out your wishes and can be named to any of these positions.

All of these matters should be discussed with your children. Even if you don’t want them to know about the assets in your estate, they should be told who will be responsible for making decisions on your finances and health care.

Consider if you want your children to learn about your finances during your lifetime, when you are able to discuss your choices with them, or if they will learn about them after you have passed, possibly from a stranger or from reading court documents.

Many of these decisions depend upon your family’s dynamics. Do your children work well together, or are there deep-seated hostilities that will lead to endless battles? You know your own children best, so this is a decision only you can make.

It is also important to take into consideration that an unexpected large inheritance can create emotional turbulence for many people. If heirs have never handled any sizable finances before, or if they have a marriage on shaky ground, an unexpected inheritance could create very real problems—and a divorce could put their inheritance at risk.

Talk with your children, if at all possible. Erring on the side of over-communicating might be a better mistake than leaving them in the dark.

Reference: CNBC (Nov. 11, 2020) “What to tell your adult kids when planning your estate”