Inheritance Planning Tips No. 1

Estate Planning Attorney Jeffrey Condon

TODAY’S REALLY HELPFUL INHERITANCE TIP!
You have, say, 3 children. In your Living Trust, you appoint JUST ONE of them as your “after-death agent” to carry out your inheritance instructions after your death. Why? Maybe because you think too many cooks spoil the broth. Maybe because the “chosen one” has a college degree. Maybe because your other kids live far away. Whatever.

Good decision to appoint just one of your children as your after-death agent, right? WRONG! Your after-death agent has a lot of decision-making power. And your agent-child can exclude the others from participating in those decisions. And fanning the flames are thoughts of the non-agents that you didn’t trust them or didn’t think they were smart enough for the job.

SOLUTION! Appoint all your children as your after-death agents. UNLESS there is a REALLY good reason to not name them all (addiction, estrangement, more than 5 children, etc…). In most cases, keeping peace in the family outweighs the efficiency of needing just one signature on the deed and other title-transferring documents.

Concerned that all your agent-children will not get along in the inheritance process? Don’t be. Even the most recalcitrant agent-child realizes that if he/she gums up the works with battles and family baggage, it will take more time and more money to get his/her inheritance share.

This is merely ONE of the hundreds of peace-keeping and family-saving tips found in BEYOND THE GRAVE. I know you will find the information invaluable. Amazon link is below.