WILLS
Langa adds that heirs and presumed heirs should remember that the lawyer who draws up a will or creates a trust works for the beneficiary , not the children . " I try to understand their wealth and give them options to dispose of their wealth to meet their goals ," she says . " We will discuss the effects of unequal distribution on sibling disharmony ."
“ If everyone ' s been fighting for twenty years , they ' ll likely fight for the next twenty years .”
Try Talking It Out
The key to diminishing drama is to have everyone talk while the parents are still alive and able to explain their thinking .
" You can minimise the surprise and hurt feelings by talking in detail in advance . The best way to deal with this situation is to create an open dialogue . Establish communication between the parent and children and explain the disparate nature of the inheritance ."
Sometimes that ' s not possible because the parents and child aren ' t communicating or have cut off dialogue . " If you don ' t have a dialogue so people can feel comfortable with the outcome , then you have a problem .
A More Effective Approach
Often inheritances and the details of the Will are considered unsavoury topics and not discussed among family
162 NOV 2022 SA Real Estate Investor Magazine