How can you ask your parents about their estate plan?

Does the estate planning conversation sound awkward? Maybe you’ve been wondering if your parents have a plan or not. But you don’t know how to bring it up because anything that you say just sounds like you’re asking them when you’re going to get your inheritance.

Many people find themselves in this position. They don’t want to make things awkward, but they have good reasons to want to learn more about their parent’s estate plan. Here are some tips you can use to bring it up:

Tell them about your plan

To start with, you can draft your own estate plan. This gives you an easy segue to talk about drafting a will or using a medical power of attorney. You can easily ask your parents whether or not they’ve done the same thing.

Talk about what can go wrong

Another tactic is simply to point out the things that can go poorly if there is not an estate plan in place. Maybe you’re worried about disputes with your siblings or you’re not sure if you’ll know what to do if your parents need medical care and they have become incapacitated. Expressing these concerns shows your parents why you want to know about the plan.

Use news stories or legal changes

Finally, you may see a new story about a celebrity’s family that got into an estate dispute, or you may hear that the estate planning laws are changing after a recent vote or a court ruling. Any time that things like this happen, they give you a chance to bring up estate planning without sounding like you just want to get your parents’ money.

Having a comprehensive estate plan is important. Those who are going through this process need to know what legal steps to take. Contact us online or call today for a free consultation with Pennington Law, PLLC.