Parents and Adult Children Need More Estate Planning Communication

Most people today would recognize the benefits of having an estate planning and at the bare minimum, a will. Others may even go one step further and have a trust in place. Unfortunately, however, parents and their adult children seem to be off when it comes to having conversations about these issues as well as identifying the value within the estate and the location of critical planning documents.

Not having an estate plan structured already can lead to a great deal of confusion as well as aggravation and even will contest for family members who are around when the loved one passes away. A recent study conducted by Fidelity Investments found that up to 70% of parents and their children had misconceptions about the values of the parents’ estate. The children were underestimating the parents’ estate value by up to $278,000. Furthermore, 80% of parents were under the impression that their adult children will know where to look to identify important paperwork such as wills and trust documents. However, only 60% of children said that they would know where to find this information. It’s important to put together an estate plan to leave protection for those who are left behind.

Many of the adult children and parents included in the study recognized the value of estate planning in general but seemed to have different answers regarding whether these difficult conversations about planning had already occurred. Just over half of the adult children stated that their parents had already had such conversations with them, although the numbers for parents were closer to 70%. If you have questions about the estate planning process, scheduling a consultation with an experienced lawyer in Virginia is strongly recommended.