‘Are Our Children Equal?’ Attorney Craig Hersch on How to Fairly Distribute Your Assets
Should you leave each of your children an equal amount of assets after you pass, or should you leave more to one child? Attorney Craig Hersch offers insight into this very question in his 2020 Sanibel Island Sun newspaper article, “Are Our Children Equal?” You can read the full version of Craig’s column — with additional tips and feedback — at FloridaEstatePlanning.com. Any parent of more than one child knows how different our kids are — even if they
have the same mother and father and were raised in the same household. One’s an athlete; the other is a bookworm. One’s a straight A student while another struggles to get Bs and Cs. One handles stress easily while another melts down at the slightest provocation. Then again, most parents won’t admit to loving one of their children more than another. We may love them in different ways, but we love them nonetheless. But are they equal? And more to the point of this column, should we treat our children equally inside of our estate plans? There is no right or wrong answer here. I can tell you from firsthand experience, when children are treated differently in an estate plan, the one who is treated less favorably will commonly ask if I knew of anything that they may have said or done to upset their parent. Unfortunately, the parent isn’t around any longer (or we wouldn’t be reading his
or her will) to provide assurances that their love was just as strong for the one child as the other who was left with more assets or money. But that shouldn’t preclude one from leaving more to one child than another, particularly where there is a real need. Consider the child who has a disability and because of decreased lifetime earning potential may not be able to accumulate sufficient savings to take care of themselves in retirement. Leaving that child a larger chunk of one’s inheritance would certainly be justified. So, in the end, there’s a great deal of emotion in our estate plans, whether we are leaving everything equally to our children or not. Whatever you do, make sure that your heart is in sync with your mind and that you’ve done your best to communicate your intentions where appropriate.
Inspired by BoulderLocavore.com
Festive Apple Cider
INGREDIENTS:
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1 lemon
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2 tsp allspice berries
1 gallon pure apple cider 1 large orange, thinly sliced crosswise
1 inch fresh ginger, thinly sliced
2 tbsp honey
3 cinnamon sticks
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2 tsp whole cloves
DIRECTIONS: 1. Using a paring knife, shave the lemon peel off in curls. Reserve the curls and save the lemon for use in a different recipe. 2. In a large slow cooker, combine the lemon peel with all other ingredients. Cook on low for 3–4 hours. 3. If desired, use a sieve to strain the spices. Serve and enjoy!
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