As more and more baby boomers develop estate plans some are coming to the realization that their elderly parents have made no plans at all. While no one is legally obligated to create any type of estate plan, not having one can impose serious hardships for your family. Yet even if your elderly parents are aware of this fact they may still be hesitant to begin their own planning efforts. If you are having trouble speaking to them about it or convincing them to begin planning, there are a couple of strategies you might try.
Talk about your own children.
If you have young children your estate plan will allow you to name a guardian who will take over parenting responsibilities should you die. You can use this fact to bring up the topic of estate planning with your own parents. Talking about the health and wellbeing of their grandchildren can be a way to open the discussion about why estate planning is important and how it can affect everyone in the family.
Talk about your own plans.
It can also be beneficial to begin your own estate planning efforts and ask your parents what they would want to happen should you die before them. You do not have to include your parents as beneficiaries, but providing something for your parents by leaving them an inheritance can be a good way of bringing up the estate planning topic.
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