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Four things to know BEFORE you make a will
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Apr 27, 2025
When you make a will you want your wishes to be honored. But family fights and legal maneuverings can thwart your last wishes unless you do certain things to prevent that. We ask a lawyer what are the best ways to avoid family fights over your assets after you pass away
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0:02
let me tell you a bottle while reading
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that changed everything picture this a
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dimly lit off his tension thick in the
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air the family all designer suits and
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fake smiles expecting millions but I
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know the truth old man Johnson had left
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it all to his dog as I read each line
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their faces fell no interruptions no
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outbursts just silence that was a will
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reading which took the family by
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surprise and it happens more often than
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you might think with relatives shocked
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or upset over what they did or didn't
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inherit i can't tell you how important
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family communication is in these
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settings i've had families sue each
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other i've had families try to decant
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trusts in other words unravel trusts had
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they just simply had the courage to have
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a family meeting discuss what was being
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done and why all of that could have been
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resolved way in advance of the
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patriarch's passing with a family
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meeting before any will is written you
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can let folks know what to expect when
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you pass and maybe there could be
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negotiations too especially if the
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patriarch has had multiple marriages and
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sets of kids how do you arrange one of
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those gettogethers where all the people
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from the past marriage the kids and
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everybody how do you do that without
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everybody having a big fight well once
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they they kind of get their arms around
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how bad it can be the kind of chaos it
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can be generated by not having these
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meetings eventually they come around to
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thinking we should have this meeting and
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I know that there's going to be some
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discord i know there's going to be some
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tur discussions at this meeting but
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having the meeting is much better than
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not having the meeting at all a will
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isn't the only thing you'll need you
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should also think about trusts
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beneficiary designations and appointing
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an executive or a state administrator
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you can appoint co-executives one being
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a professional one being a family member
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so that you have that input from both
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sides you know both sides of the fence
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don't execute a will or an inheritance
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plan and then just file it away and
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forget about it because circumstances
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markets and even your own economic
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situation can change so make sure that
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these documents are always updated on a
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regular basis every other year our focus
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is on those documents has anything
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changed in your family dynamic has
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anything changed financially where we
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need to modify things then we can modify
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them to to take into account the change
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in circumstances so we'd like to review
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them at least every other year certainly
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no no less than once every 5 years
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having that good communication is
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essential to creating a successful
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estate plan for your children and your
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surviving spouse if you do things in
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secret it's going to come back to bite
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somebody working for you I'm the
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consumer guy Steve Frasier
#Family
#Inheritance & Estate Planning