by Francis Burton Doyle, Esq., WealthPLAN
Helping clients on a daily basis with their legal planning for the future includes both legal and non-legal aspects of planning. One non-legal aspect of planning involves your clients final arrangements. It is strongly recommended that the client document their final wishes and communicate this decision to their family ahead of time. There are many potentially stressful questions to be answered after a loved one passes away, such as:
- Which funeral home should we call?
- Would he/she want cremation or burial?
- Which cemetery would he/she want to be buried in?
- What would he/she want on their headstone?
- Where would he/she want the service to be held?
- Would he/she want visitation?
- What would he/she want the obituary to say?
Things will run more smoothly for your clients and their families if they have already documented the answers to these important questions and have communicated them directly to their heirs.
Another area where I recommend you encourage your clients to make their wishes known is regarding their “stuff”. By stuff I mean jewelry, collectibles, photographs, family heirlooms, etc. that your clients family may possibly squabble over or that are not equally divisible among all beneficiaries.
For example, if your client has two valuable family heirlooms and three children to whom they have left everything “equally”, the most likely scenario will be that the family heirlooms will not remain in the family, but instead be sold and the proceeds divided among the three children. If your client requests that certain family treasures are to remain in the family, the practitioner needs to do a written memorandum/inventory (see article below) stating which family member(s) will receive each item.
Quote to Ponder
“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity.
The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
~Winston Churchill
About the Author:
Francis Burton Doyle, Esq., is the founder of WealthPLAN, with over 30 years of experience in Tax, Estate-Planning Probate, Trust Administration and Litigation. He is Certified Legal Specialist, Taxation Law and Probate, Estate Planning and Trust Law (California State Bar). Frank is the Past President of both the Santa Clara County Estate Planning Council & the Silicon Valley Planned Giving Committee. Frank is also the Past Chair of the Planning Committee, Annual Jerry A. Kasner Symposium, Santa Clara University, School of Law. Mr. Doyle provides all the course development and instruction for the Advanced Legal Training Institute.
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