Bringing up estate planning with your parents can feel awkward. Most people don’t want to talk about money, health, or what happens when they’re gone. But not having an estate plan can leave everyone scrambling when something unexpected happens.
Having a conversation about estate planning with your parents makes everything easier when it matters most and ensures their wishes are honored.
When to Have the Conversation
Choose a quiet, relaxed time when no one’s distracted to have the conversation. Ideally, do it in person so it’s easier to read tone and body language.
That said, don’t wait too long. The best time to create an estate plan is before an emergency. In a crisis, it’s harder to think clearly, and important decisions can easily end up rushed or made under pressure.
Sometimes waiting too long means it’s too late to do anything. A person needs legal capacity to create or update their estate plan. Without legal capacity, no one (not an adult child or even a spouse) can create or change someone else’s Will or Power of Attorney, even if everyone agrees.
If your parent loses capacity without a valid Power of Attorney, no one would be able to file their taxes, negotiate with their insurance company, or access their accounts to pay their bills. At that point, your family may have to go through a court process, which takes time and money, and a judge would decide who can do those things, rather than your parent making that choice themselves.
How to Approach the Conversation
Talking about estate planning doesn’t need to be a big, formal sit-down. Keep it light but respectful. The key is to remember that the goal isn’t to tell your parents what to do with their assets. It’s to protect their wishes. Once they see that your heart is in the right place, the conversation often gets much easier.
What to Say to Start the Conversation
We’ve found that the easiest and most effective way to bring up estate planning is to talk about your own plan:
“I met with an attorney to do my estate plan. I feel a lot better knowing everything is the way I’d want it if something happened. Have you looked at your plan recently?”
Talking about your plan first takes the pressure off them and makes the topic feel more natural.
Another option is to say something like:
“I want to make sure your wishes are honored and that we’re prepared if something ever happens.”
Whatever you decide to say, start small to open the door.
Getting into Specifics
Last Will and Testament
Ask your parents whether they have a Will, and if so, when they last reviewed it. Many people sign a Will and never look at it again. Sometimes, so much has changed in the meantime that it’s no longer valid under Georgia law or no longer reflects what they want.
If they have a Will from another state, Georgia courts will usually accept it as long as it was valid where it was signed. That said, even if the Will is technically valid, differences in state law can dramatically affect how a Will actually works. The best approach is to have it reviewed by an experienced Georgia estate planning attorney.
Some of the things a valid Georgia Will would allow your parents to do include:
- Decide who will inherit their assets
- Name someone they trust to carry out their wishes
- Appoint guardians for minor children
Revocable Trust
Depending on your parents’ situation and goals, they may want to consider a Revocable Living Trust if they haven’t already. Some of the things a Revocable Living Trust can do include:
- Avoiding probate
- Keeping financial details private
- Making things as easy as possible for the person in charge of carrying out their wishes
- Specifying exactly how and when assets should be distributed to their loved ones when they pass away
If your parents created a Revocable Living Trust in another state, it will usually still be recognized in Georgia as long as it was valid where it was created. Trusts generally transfer more smoothly from one state to another than Wills. It’s still worth having a Georgia estate planning attorney review it to ensure it complies with Georgia law and your parents’ wishes.
Financial Power of Attorney
Everyone over the age of 18 should have a Financial Power of Attorney. It allows your parents to name someone to handle their financial and legal matters if they ever can’t. Without it, your family may have to go through a court process where a judge ultimately makes that decision for them.
A Financial Power of Attorney created in another state may still be valid in Georgia, but it doesn’t always work well in practice. Banks, title companies, and other financial institutions sometimes hesitate to accept it or may refuse to honor it altogether. Having it reviewed or updated by an experienced Georgia estate planning attorney is the best way to ensure it will actually work if needed.
Advance Directive for Health Care
An Advance Directive combines a living will and healthcare power of attorney. It lets your parents choose who can make medical decisions for them if they can’t communicate, and it outlines specific preferences.
If they have one from another state, it may still be valid in Georgia, but having a Georgia-specific Advance Directive helps ensure healthcare providers can follow it without unnecessary delays in an emergency.
Help Them Get Organized
Encourage your parents to keep important information in a safe place, and make sure at least one person knows where to find it and how to access it. Some of the information they’ll want to gather includes:
- Estate planning documents
- Bank and investment account details
- Insurance policies
- Real estate deeds
- Car titles
- Digital accounts and passwords
- Contact information for their advisors, such as their attorney, accountant, and financial advisor
Speak With an Experienced Georgia Estate Planning Attorney
At Thrift McLemore, we help Georgia families create estate plans that reflect their goals, protect what they’ve built, and support the people they love most through life’s most difficult moments.
Call us at 678-882-0830 or click here to schedule a consultation with one of our Atlanta estate planning attorneys.
