You want to leave your children an inheritance to support them after you pass, but you also want to make sure that they won’t squander it. You think it would be best not to let them know about it because they won’t fight and won’t worry about what they want to do with the money or assets once they receive them.
To be honest, it’s usually best to talk to your beneficiaries and heirs about your plans before you pass away. Why? If you don’t, then they may not know what your true intentions are in passing these assets on.
Here’s an example. If you want your children to use an inheritance toward their education, marriage or other major life event, you can sit down and talk to them about it. State that you’d like them to use the inheritance in that way and why. If they disagree or you believe that there need to be more protections, you can talk to your attorney about setting up a trust. That way, the assets can be designed to be distributed only when the correct conditions are met.
Talking to your children about their inheritances is also important because it allows you to explain why you may be leaving more to one person than another. It could also help you talk to them about why you’ve chosen to leave certain items to one person over another.
Your attorney can help you with this discussion if you feel it needs to take place in a legal atmosphere. When everyone is informed and you see how they respond, you can make better decisions about your assets and estate plan moving forward.