PenPenWrites

You never know where some gem or germ of wisdom will come from. Here's a little sensible advice from a law firm's blog. Of course, the writer is selling estate planning, but still, the comments make sense even if you're not drawing up an official plan. First, there's the question of whether you should share your estate plan with your heirs–the grown kids or even the grandkids, if they're grown, too.

The lawyer-writer answers that point this way:

"If
you have a significant estate to leave to your heirs—but you are still
alive and well—to whom does that significant estate belong, you or them? This
seem a silly question, of course the property belongs to you, but many
adult children have come to count on the property their parents will
leave them, and—rightly or wrongly—to feel a sense of ownership over
it. As potential beneficiaries, do your heirs have the right to be
informed ahead of time of your plans for your own estate?

David Cay Johnston, in his article Learning to Share, suggests that "although parents have no responsibility
to inform their children of their plans, not talking to your kids about
your estate plan is a surefire way to foster hurt feelings and
inter-family fights once you've passed on.

Every family and situation will be different,
and some parents will have good reasons for keeping their plans under
wraps. But in many circumstances, whether your
intention with your estate plan is to ease the way for your heirs or
merely to ensure that your wishes are carried out to the letter, open
communication with your children or potential heirs is the best way to
support the accomplishment of those goals."