When it comes to estate planning at times parents may want to leave unequal amounts of property to their children. Now while they wish to leave more to one child versus the next they don’t want such a decision to come across as if they are favoring one child over another. It is important when planning your estate and considering to subdivided not in equal parcels amongst your children to take into consideration not only their disappointment but potential conflict between siblings over your decision. In this blog we will discuss several scenarios of how others have handled such matters.
First Scenario
Samantha, a widow without children of her own asks her three nephews and two nieces which of her family treasure they want. For the most part her nephews and niece’s request seem to be reasonable, and Samantha envisions how she can potentially use her will and/or trust to reflect all of them. However there is on major problem as four out of the five ask for her valuable antique Persian Rug, and none of them seem willing to part without having it. After Samantha sits them all down and discuss with them, two seem adamant on her not selling the rug in order to divide the profits in equal shares. All eventually agree to co-own the antique Persian Rug and to simply rotate the possession every year. While Samantha secretly believes this solution to be awkward she is proud of herself for resolving a situation that one day would have created atomicity in the family.
Second Scenario
Michael’s parents David and Melissa, have paid for his college and medical education, not to mention helped with the down payment for his first home. Layla, their older daughter has always been more self-sufficient, working multiple jobs putting herself through school and saving up for her own down payment. Layla has always been a loving daughter and never brought up the subject addressing her parents giving more to Michael then herself. David and Melissa as they decided to take care of their estate planning wish to leave more behind to Layla in their estate plan as they feel they have given Michael a lot and it isn’t fair to their daughter. Michael overhearing his parent’s conversation argues with his parents they should still leave him half. David and Melissa after taking Michael’s argument into consideration decided to stick to the original plan and leave more of their assets to Layla to compensate and never to again discuss the subject with Michael. They decided they would explain how and why they came up with such a distribution in their estate planning documents. They will emphasize how they love both children equally and wish nothing more then but to be fair to the both of them in hopes that Michael will come around respecting and understanding their wishes.
Third Scenario
Jessica and John have two children and a substantial estate. Their son Robert is a doctor, and their son Max is a graduate student working nights as an Uber driver for now. Jessica and John are considering leaving most of their wealth to Steven as they believe Robert to be financially secure and not needing their help. After consulting an estate planning attorney they quickly realize that such an in balance of asset distribution can potentially cause siblings grow to hate one another. They also are now are now more aware that medicine can change and Roberts job can become less lucrative. Jessica and John are healthy and don’t foresee themselves passing away anytime soon. They come to realize that Max will finish school and hopefully become well established himself in the near future. So, Jessica and John decided to divide their estate equally between their two sons.
- They will continue you give Max $15,000 a year while he is in school and still needs their help,
- They will periodically go over their estate planning to see if there is a need to leave more to one son versus the other as time goes by.
To sum it all up estate planning isn’t always cut and dry. There are a lot of things to be considered when planning your estate and someone of them you probably never took under consideration such as potential disputes or grievances among your children if not treated equally. A good estate planning attorney can open your eyes and give you food for thought they will educate you on the topic and provide you with examples for consideration. To set up your free consultation to speak with an experience estate planning lawyer please call our office.
