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Helping Elderly Parents with Their Finances and Estate Plan

Helping Elderly Parents with Their Finances and Estate Plan

How To Speak To Parents About Finances and Estate and Gift Tax Planning

As our older parents age it is harder for them to deal with the financial details of their lives. With the complicated financial products out there and the low-interest rate environment it becomes very difficult for them to make sound financial decisions. In addition, dealing with one’s own mortality can prevent parents from focusing on their estate plan. As many know, if they fail to have a will, trust or overall estate plan, the state will decide who gets their wealth via the laws of intestate succession.

The situation becomes even more acute in those many cases where there are second and sometimes third or more marriages. Most of these couples do not appreciate the problems that can occur for the surviving family members. A Russian Roulette situation can arise for the families depending on who dies first. Planning and careful drafting is almost certainly necessary in these situations to avoid family warfare and large and usually inevitable litigation costs. Couple this with the emotional toll that these situations engender, you can readily see why estate planning is so vital. (For more on the estate planning process readers should explore Estate Planning Mistakes: 5 Not So Easy Pieces)

The point here is that children need to help their parents in getting their financial and estate plan in order. However, they must tread very carefully to avoid having their parents think they are acting in a self-serving way. Additionally, children should carefully deal with and tell their siblings of such involvement to avoid any later challenges of overreaching, duress, fraud and undue influence.

So how does one talk with their elder parents about these important issues? To get some ideas about how to approach parents on these vital issues please read my article entitled Estate Planning for Elderly Parents: Discussing Finances and Estate Planning with Your Aging Parents

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Helping Elderly Parents with Their Finances and Estate Plan