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Tag: inheritance

What’s Worse Than Having No Will? Having Two

Estate planning matters. Not having a will can leave surviving family members to struggle with legal complexities, increased costs, and strained relationships as they make decisions that they can only hope the deceased would have approved. It adds pain and heartache....

What We Think We’d Do With $1 Million, and What We’d Probably Do

What would you do with a million-dollar windfall? This question was the topic of a survey in a March 28, 2023, article by Jessica Whitehouse in onlinegambling.com, “This is how Americans would spend $1,000,000 in lottery winnings.” Before I read past the headline, I...

Are Unequal Inheritances Fair?

It’s not very often that I see an estate plan that treats children unequally. When I do, it is usually because a parent is estranged from one child and leaves him or her nothing. In estate planning, “equal” isn’t necessarily the same as “fair.” Recently, a client I’ll...

Why Are Bequests to Charity So Rare?

Based on my experience, American societal money scripts around estate planning appear to be “Good parents leave everything to family,” and “The more money I can leave my kids the better off they will be.” It’s not surprising, then, that estate...

Conscious Bequests: Inheritances That Help, Not Harm

One of the biggest conundrums of estate planning is considering how, or even if, you can give money or property to your heirs in a manner that will help them. How can leaving money to someone not be helpful? Research shows that receiving a lot of money can certainly...