When you sign your will, should you tell people what they are getting?
If you’ve watched Netflix’s The Gentlemen or HBO’s Succession, you know how powerful the inheritance storyline can be. The mystery creates suspense, and the reveal invites drama. However, your estate plan shouldn’t take lessons from these plot lines, according to an article from mondaq, “Communicating Your Estate Plan: A Helpful Tool, Not A Fix-All.”
Whether to reveal the details of your estate plan should be preceded by another question: will being upfront with heirs and beneficiaries before you die reduce the likelihood of family fights and litigation, or will it create the conflict you were hoping to avoid?
While it’s best to be able to share your wishes, whether or not to communicate anything about your estate plan is entirely up to you. No one should feel they must share this information. Your estate planning attorney is ethically required to keep your discussions and details confidential, even after you have passed.
People can modify their estate plan at any time, as long as they are competent and living. You can make any changes you want, even if you’ve told your beneficiaries one thing and then decide to do another. Unneeded disclosures may have negative consequences. However, you are legally allowed to do it.
Communication can take any form and be vague or specific. If you tell people what they will get, inform the beneficiaries that it was carefully created based on your wishes and the advice of an estate planning attorney and any other tax and wealth advisers.
Sometimes, knowing a plan has been made with professional help can allay concerns from heirs. You might communicate the general framework of the estate plan, letting heirs understand who has been named for roles like Power of Attorney, Health Care Power of Attorney, Successor Trustee, and Executor. It may be helpful to explain why you’ve made these decisions to avoid the “Mom would have never wanted this” arguments.
Things don’t always go as planned, however. If explanations are not consistent among heirs, there will be conflict. Even if explanations are consistent, some families will have conflict, no matter how clear you are with everyone.
In some cases, having your estate planning attorney convey details of your choosing to family members might be helpful. Learning this information from someone outside the family can be less triggering, particularly when the family respects the attorney as a skilled professional.
Also, once you tell people what they will get, technically referred to in many circles as “Spilling the beans”, “Letting the Cat out of the Bag” or premature disclosure, are you then required to tell people that you have made changes? The unnecessary sharing of details can raise future ethical quandries.
Unfortunately, there are some families where transparency won’t preclude conflict. In these situations, sharing any details may create battles you may not want to be a part of or subject you to attempts to influence your decisions. This is something that each person has to consider. A frank conversation with your estate planning attorney about handling these issues will help you decide if or how much information to share with your family.
Reference: mondaq (June 18, 2024) “Communicating Your Estate Plan: A Helpful Tool, Not A Fix-All”
