Many families have one or more “black sheep” who tend to make their own choices without taking the family’s opinions into account. Estate planning can be difficult when including black sheep in your will. If you’re a Washington, D.C., resident in the process of planning your estate, here are some important things you should know about leaving assets to these individuals.
Understanding your family’s wealth
Every family’s wealth is organized differently based on future expenses and current financial obligations. Whether you have no children or several children and whether your adult children are married, divorced or single, you’ll have to consider each of your beneficiaries to make the best estate planning decisions.
Concerns about leaving an inheritance
If you’re worried that one of your beneficiaries will spend their inheritance money on an addiction or you have a child with a mental illness who may not know how to use the funds properly, you may want to incentivize your will. For instance, you can tell your children that they will only receive the inheritance if they remain drug-free or complete their college education.
You can also conduct the estate planning process as you see fit by leaving more of your inheritance to a child with a long-term medical condition or to the child who will take on the caretaker role for your other son or daughter. If you’ve given large sums of money to one or more of your children in life, such as to buy a home or start a business, you can opt to leave less inheritance money for them.
If you need to know more about estate planning and how it can benefit your family, speak with an experienced probate lawyer. A legal professional may help you decide what to leave your children and the best estate planning tools to distribute them after your passing.