Estate planning is something everyone should take seriously. Many times, the proper planning is the difference between your family members receiving what you want them to have or not.

Today, I have a double PHD that I didn’t have several months ago in family estate planning. Recently, I had an elderly family member that married a charlatan a few years ago before they died. Over a very short period, the person they married, systematically dismantled my family member’s entire estate leaving nothing to their children. I could take three pages to lay out the details, but for the sake of this blog, I will stick to the summary overview. The good news is that God is watching so I doubt the person will be able to enjoy the ill-gotten gains.

People think a valid will has to be done through an attorney and while that is the best course of action, it doesn’t always have to be done that way. A person can take a piece of paper and put a date at the top and specify how they want their estate to be divided. They need to have two people witness (sign and date) their signature to validate the will as their “Last Will and Testament.” They should then make copies but send the original to the person they want to serve as the executor of the estate upon their death and this type of will is as enforceable as the fancy kind.

Estate planning becomes muddled when the person uses his/her will as a threat to family members. This should never happen but with elderly people it often does because the person sees their will as the last bit of control over their children. There are more families destroyed by this type action than you can imagine but the biggest result, is it destroys the very love his/her children have for them. I can tell you emphatically that my daughters will never question the love from their mother and father because of a family estate matter.

So, what does all this mean? Well, it means to be diligent, honest and transparent with your children about these matters and get it in writing, so they will never have a reason to doubt your love for them. KT

I was working in my office today and took a break. For some reason I started looking at all the things in my office. I have model cars, sale monuments, books, keepsakes and various other items that hold meaning to me. Then I noticed the pictures of my family spread out over the desk and credenza. I have never really counted the pictures because it has never occurred to me to do so. When I did, I realized there are 16 pictures of my wife, children, son in-laws, grandchildren, mom, dad and they range from when my daughters were young, high school age, college age and even today.

I paused and realized that the most meaningful people to me take a far more important presence in my office than what I own or what I have sold. I have a friend of mine who is in my line of work and his office is filled with monuments to the deals he has closed. The monuments to his closing are so overwhelming, you can’t seem to see anything else. I have to wonder if he is as happy as I am.

When you walk into our home, the first thing you see is a picture of all our family hung in a very prominent spot near the front door. By the time you get to our family room, you have passed pictures of all our family on the walls and in the main room on the bookshelves, are photos of those who mean the most to me and my wife.

If you look at sheer volume, someone who does not know us would come away understanding what/who are the most important things in our life. On our refrigerator there is probably 15-20 photos of our immediate family that we see every time we pass by.

In life, it could be said that what you most display around you represent what you most love. In our case, there is little question what holds the most meaning for us. You have heard me say this before, that at someone’s funeral, you don’t see pictures of their stocks, bank accounts, houses, deals they have sold or their cars. You see pictures of their family. Why wait till your funeral to display what means the most to you? KT