You may feel like your estate plan is fairly private, and you may not want to share it with anyone. That’s fine. It is private if you’d like it to be, and no one has to give you their advice or input regarding your decisions. You have the final say.
That said, there are some reasons why it can be helpful to have a conversation about your plans with your heirs as you make them.
Reducing disputes between your heirs
The main reason to talk to your heirs is because of how often heirs tend to get into disputes over estate plans. If you keep everything secret, they have to work all of this out on their own. If you talk to them, they can take up disputes with you — and some disputes won’t happen at all because they’ll know what you genuinely want the plan to do.
Finding out more about your heirs’ desires
Dividing money may be simple, but dividing assets can be harder. You want to know if there are any family heirlooms that specific people really want or that they assume they’re going to get. If you guess and get it wrong, you can cause disputes or at least make your heirs feel disheartened when they read the will. You may never even know, assuming you made a terrific plan. Why not get their feedback to see if it works as well as you assume?
Creating the right plan
At the end of the day, your goal is to create the right estate plan for your family. Be sure you know what steps to take to accomplish that goal. Working with an attorney can help you understand more about your options, and you may uncover possibilities that you didn’t know existed.