When your family has a higher net worth and many assets to be concerned about in the estate planning and financial management process, it’s good to think carefully about what you want to be done with your money based on your values.

The estate planning process brings up a unique opportunity to talk about your family’s mission and values. Those values, once decided, should be documented and then shared with anyone who is a part of the estate or who could potentially become part of the estate.

The reason for this is because it helps to explain your decisions about why money is or is not allocated in a certain way. This is particularly important if you are deviating from what family members might anticipate in your estate planning, such as gifting a large amount to a charity or excluding certain people from receiving assets altogether.

All too often, without these mission, vision and values being documented within your estate planning, it’s all too easy for a loved one to interpret your decisions the wrong way and feel as though the lack of gifts to them is a valuation of their role in the family.

Having these conversations and asking these important questions is not something you have to do alone. It can be helpful to get the process jumpstarted by meeting with an experienced estate planning lawyer in Pasadena.  

If you’re stuck in thinking about how to create a family mission statement, start thinking about what’s most important to you and the values that you want to guide your loved ones.

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