WILLS
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If sibling inheritance is uneven , it always leads to poor feelings [ that ] one sibling is better off than the other ," says Melissa Langa , a partner at a US based trust and estates law firm and coauthor of The Complete Book of Wills , Estates and Trusts " It ' s generally not a good idea to split an estate unevenly ."
Wills have a way of frustrating that desire for equality among siblings . If the oldest child works in the family business and receives full control of it in the will , siblings who inherit only , say , nonvoting stock , are likely to feel slighted , even if they ' d never set foot in the business .
Alternatives to Acrimony
How can you avoid this ? The parents could name the siblings as beneficiaries of a life insurance policy that would pay each of them an amount equal to the value of the stock passed on to the oldest child . In this way , all of the children would be satisfied and feel that their parents treated them fairly .
160 NOV 2022 SA Real Estate Investor Magazine