Can You Avoid a Sticky Situation When Estate Planning?

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Today's topic is estate planning and the many questions that come up during the process. Ideally, everyone will be in agreement with one another, but unfortunately, that's not always the case. Today, I want to offer some advice to help you avoid a sticky situation.

If you have one kid, you don't have much to worry about - leave your estate to them and everything will be fine. If you have two kids, you also don't have too much to worry about, especially if they have a good relationship with one another. If you have three or more kids and you plan on leaving your house to them, here's my advice: DON'T! You're better off leaving it to someone else. 

I've been in the business for 17 years and I've seen just about everything that can happen when it comes to selling an estate. If you have more than two kids, you're better off burning the house down! In all seriousness though, leaving a single home to a group of people will almost always be messy. I've seen more families split over selling mom and dad's house than just about anything else, and often it's for a small amount of money, if any.

Your best option is to find a trustee that will do what you want and not what the kids want. Take time to do your estate planning - sit down with a lender or an estate planner if you need to. It's always better to talk about these things well in advance than to wait until the end. You'll be happier and your kids will be happier if you take a smart, strategic approach to planning your estate!

If you have questions about this topic, or if you need real estate assistance of any kind, give us a call or shoot us a quick email. We would love to hear from you!