Tips To Keep Peace among your heirs

Use our guide to save on taxes, avoid probate and keep peace among your heirs.

- Eileen Ambrose, Lisa Gerstner And Kim Lankford

If estate planning were just cold, hard numbers, it wouldn’t be one of the financial tasks that people avoid the most. Not only does creating an estate plan force you to confront your own mortality, but it also forces you to decide who gets your assets, whether all heirs should be treated equally and who will play the key roles in settling your estate.

“With the possible exception of divorce work, emotions come out more in estate planning than anywhere else,” says Gary Botwinick, an estate-planning lawyer in Denville, N.J.

To help get past the uncomfortable thought of your own death, remember that if you die without a will, state law will govern the distributions of your assets—and it may not go the way you want.

If you haven’t yet written a will or created the other documents that every estate plan should include, see the box on page 42. If you have those documents but your assets have grown and your life has become more complex, it may be time to review and update your plan.

REVISIT YOUR ESTATE PLAN

Review your estate plan every five years or whenever there is a major change in your life, such as a birth, death, or financial windfall or loss, or if there’s a change in estate laws. It’s particularly important to revisit your plan once you reach your fifties or sixties. By that time, your assets may have become much more complicated, your heirs have grown older (you may have grandchildren now, too), and your wishes may have changed. Rather than focusing primarily on protecting your family if you die early, you may now be in a position to use your estate to help the next generation and build a legacy.