As a parent, you face an important and yet difficult decision when deciding how you pass on assets to your children. If you have multiple children, the most common question to arise first is what you pass on to each of them and whether or not your assets should be distributed equally. 

Parents who decide to leave their children unequal shares can risk fueling conflicts within the family. However, the quests that are made on strictly equal basis might raise challenges and problems from heirs who believe that this has not been done fairly. Since money is one of the most common subjects to fight about, you want to carefully think about the dynamics of your own family while making this decision.

One of the first steps to take is to consider what you would define as fair. For some families this might mean an equal dollar amount or valued amounts of assets that are relatively close. However, other families might want to adjust existing distributions to account for financial help that has already been given to adult children or to leave more behind for those heirs who – unequal distributions can be challenging because the child who receives less than other siblings might view this as a punishment, especially if the reason for inequality was to account for personal wealth or to reflect previous financial help.

Ask your kids what they think and plan to make decisions based on your unique family dynamics. Schedule a consultation today with an experienced estate planning attorney to learn more.