You’ve decided this is the year you finally put an estate plan in place. It’s important to avoid a mistake that too many people make: assuming that your kids want everything of value you have and maybe even will fight over it if you’re not clear about who’s getting what.
Unless it’s money or some other kind of liquid asset, there’s always a chance that the person to whom you bequeath something has no interest in it and won’t be able to sell it. Even if they can sell it, it could end up costing them more in time and money than it’s worth. Let’s look at just a few examples.
Real estate
Whether it’s your own home, a vacation or rental property or even a plot of land, it’s important to determine whether anyone actually wants it.
While the sale of a property can result in a nice inheritance, even if an heir doesn’t want to live there, inheriting real estate comes with numerous headaches – not to mention costs including taxes, maintenance, insurance and possibly mortgage payments until it can be sold.
Timeshares
Maybe instead of a vacation home, you have a timeshare. These generally involve resort properties where people buy the right to stay there for a specific number of weeks per year.
Timeshares have gained a lot of negative notoriety over the years because the annual fees, including taxes, tend to increase while the property value may decline – especially if the larger property is not kept up. They can be difficult to unload – at least without losing money.
Storage units
Unless you’re keeping gold bars in your storage unit (which, of course, is unwise), your kids likely don’t want to inherit the contents of your storage unit. You may intend for them to go through it and take what they want, but is there really anything in there of value? You put it in storage for a reason.
If you have a unit, the best thing you can do for your kids is visit it now. Let them know if there’s anything they might want that’s still in good shape. If not, give it to charity or throw it away and save yourself the fee.
The best way to avoid leaving your children or other loved ones something they don’t want or that will only be a headache for them is to talk with them before you codify anything. With sound estate planning guidance, you can help ensure that your estate plan doesn’t bring unintended consequences for your loved ones.