HOLLYWOOD MOVIES USUALLY PORTRAY the reading of the will as a family gathering around in suspense, anxiety and agony. You’ve seen it in films or in commercials on television. Lucky family members win the prize inheritance and are in celebration, while others are left out of the will, completely forgotten and with nothing. This scene of the estate plan details being revealed after death can create some potential problems, and in an ideal world should never happen.

For most people, an estate plan includes items such as a basic will, a trust, durable power of attorney documents and medical or health care directives. These documents are packaged together for the client, including instructions for designating property correctly and best practices for safekeeping of the documents. Ideally, both client and advisor are happy; the client knows his or her advisor understands the client’s needs and the advisor knows the client now has the appropriate documents in place.

Ideally.

However, successful wealth transfers must answer these questions:

How do we communicate the strategy to those responsible for carrying out the wishes of the client?

How do we prepare those beneficiaries and responsible individuals for implementing the plan?

When is the appropriate time to communicate this strategy to the beneficiaries?

Imagine you ask a travel agent and a travel guide to plan the perfect vacation for you. They set out creating your ideal trip; however, they never actually communicate the plans to you. Without proper communication of the who, what, where, when and why, how will the trip be successfully executed? The same goes for successful communication of an estate plan and the wishes of the person in control of the estate.

The following checklist provides a starting point for assessing if your family is prepared. Careful preparation, communication and clear goals will significantly enhance the success of your family wealth transition.

PREPAREDNESS CHECKLIST
◆ Our family has an estate plan in place and we created the necessary legal documents to carry out the plan.
◆ Our estate planning documents are periodically reviewed and are up-to-date.
◆ Our financial plan has been completed and is up-todate.
◆ We communicated our estate plan to our family, to the designated beneficiaries and to the parties responsible for carrying out the wishes of our plan.
◆ Our family understands the basic goals we aim to accomplish with our financial and estate plans.
◆ Our family continues to have ongoing communications about topics of importance to the family (financial plans, estate plans, family history, family values).

If you checked off all six items on the checklist, most likely your estate plan is in place and you have a high probability of a successful transition to the next generation. Congratulations! However, any unchecked items provide a starting point for improving your plan.

With proper planning, transferring wealth from one generation to the next can be a smooth process. The basic documents that should be in place before anything else are the will and trust documents. However, contrary to what many believe, it does not end here. Open communication, including periodic family meetings, keeping everything up to date and all parties understanding their roles and responsibilities are the keys to success and, frankly, can make or break an estate plan.