Maybe you are an individual or couple who has worked long, hard and smartly to ensure adequate financial protection in future years and also accumulated assets earmarked for family loved ones.
For most financial planners, aspirations concerning additional wealth most often focus upon children and, sometimes, grandkids. The children of many planning couples are independent and decidedly in the out-of-the-house phase. Estate planning documents frequently target them as primary beneficiaries of family inheritances.
Initial points to consider concerning inheritances
A recent in-depth national article on inheritance strategies and related fund release gets straight to the point in its discussion of inter-family asset transfers. Specifically, it underscores “things every family should consider when deciding how [and when] to pass wealth from one generation to the next.”
A key question is this: Should money intended as inheritances be left to children only following the death of parents or, conversely, while mom and dad are still alive?
Here are a few takeaways stressed by a group of financial advisers, presented as self-directed queries that planning parents should pose for themselves and carefully answer:
- Have planners ensured that other wealth not marked for inheritance will sufficiently cover their own financial needs?
- Have tax implications (like capital-gains outlays and strategies for lawful avoidance) been fully considered and responded to?
- Have parents prospered financially during recent economic turmoil, while their children have faced notable financial challenges?
- Is it important for givers to see the positive effects that giving will provide?
- Has a candid family discussion preceded actual gifting?
There is obviously no single correct-in-every case strategy concerning inheritance timing. “Every family is different,” duly notes the above-cited article.
Questions or concerns regarding a family inheritance or other planning matter can be directed to a proven and results-oriented estate planning and administration legal team.
