Mediated Family Estate Planning

Two very emotional and stressful events in any person’s life are divorce and death. For years, mediators have helped siblings with estate disputes after their parents are deceased. An enormous amount of misery and conflict could be avoided if parents talked to their adult children about their estate planning goals. A professional mediator can help parents through the emotions and complexity of mediated estate planning.

Parents are experienced in making decisions for their children. However, when the kids are mature adults, some estate planning decisions may be counterproductive. For instance, assume you and your spouse own a retail store with a number of long-term employees. You have decided to leave the family store to your mature adult children and hope that they will continue the family business as if you were still alive. Of your three children, two have been living with their respective families and one lives in the same town as the family store; however, each is well-established in a profession. Your estate plans have now turned your children into business partners. Your children were certain that you knew they did not want to own and run the family store. They did not choose to become partners in the family business, nor were they able to choose the terms of the partnership.

Mediation is an excellent process for assisting families through the difficult and usually avoided discussions of estate planning. An experienced mediator can facilitate communication and guide the family through those conversations. Family members no longer have to guess about what will happen and how estate decisions may affect others.