It used to be that when parents died, their Last Wills were administered and wishes honored without question. Children may not have liked what their parents did in their Last Wills or Living Trusts, but they respected their wishes. Times have certainly changed, and now fighting and litigation are being much more common, especially if children are not treated equally.
So, is there any way to minimize, if not eliminate, this possibility? Most of us would probably prefer to ignore this issue with the hope that it might not happen. After all, we will be gone, so it will be someone else’s problem if it comes up. It is like an ostrich with its head in the sand.
When I met recently with an elderly widow, who elected to favor one of her children in her Will, I suggested that she do the opposite and host a family meeting with yours truly to tell her children what she was doing and why. This proactive approach to addressing potential problems will allow your children to ask questions and understand what is going on. I suggested my involvement because I could answer any legal questions that might come up, and I also could give my client a bit of a buffer if there was any tension in the meeting.
We might not be able to completely eliminate the possibility of lawsuits and family friction, but talking about your wishes might bring our families back to yester-year when we simply respected someone’s wishes as their own.
