Worcester & Middlesex County Estate Planning & Elder Law

What Is the Difference Between a Will and an Ethical Will?

Ethical wills are written by men and women alike, with the goal of communicating personal wisdom and values to the next generation.

Ethical wills aren’t new. They’ve been around for centuries and were once communicated verbally to pass on values to future generations. Ethical wills are now written with the goal of communicating personal wisdom and values to the next generation. WTOP discussed this topic in its article, "What to know about ethical wills."

An ethical will provides you with a sense of an individual’s personal life lessons shared as part of their legacy. They detail critical moments in a family’s history to inform and inspire generations to come. In contrast, a last will and testament gives instructions on how your financial assets are to be distributed.

An ethical will can complement a legal will with information you’d share if you were alive. Although ethical wills aren’t legally binding, they’re increasingly used to convey a person’s hopes and dreams for their family and to help explain decisions made in a legal will. When read with the will, an ethical will may help reduce potential conflict within the family.

Here are some situations when you might consider an ethical will:

• Parents can write a letter to a newborn or newly adopted child, expressing their hopes and dreams for the child and the values they want to use in the child’s life;
• When a child marries, parents can stress important family traditions to be carried on in their own family;
• Some families note the desire to preserve and pass down family photo albums or legacy writings;
• An ethical will can be used to explain the source of the family’s wealth or to communicate values concerning the use of that wealth;
• When an individual has a significant life event (particularly one that impacted the whole family), she may want to communicate how that event changed her life and perspective; and
• Parents may choose to write a letter thanking their children for the joyful memories and accomplishments they’ve shared as a family.

An ethical will is usually a handwritten letter addressed to children and grandchildren. Many begin writing an ethical will with notes about core beliefs and some of the events in the person’s life that led to those beliefs. You may also consider expressing gratitude for important people in your life, which may include family members and close friends.

Consider developing your thoughts over time to allow yourself to fully process and prioritize the ideas you want to express in your final letter. An ethical will can be a unique way to share your personal life journey with your family, and the process can also provide a sense of life perspective as you take the time to review your life lessons and the impact those had on you and your legacy.

Reference: WTOP (November 28, 2018) "What to know about ethical wills"

Need help with your own unique situation? Give us a call at (978) 342-1914 or visit us at www.dellamonaca.com.

From all of us at the Law Office of Michael D. Della Monaca, we wish you a very happy new year. We'll be back in the office on Wednesday, January 2, 2019. 

Do You Have a Will Yet?

Of course you know you should have a will. Then why do so many people procrastinate on getting one?

There’s news of a celebrity dying without a will nearly every month.

Merrill Lynch and the consulting firm Age Wave found from their recent survey that about 50 percent of study participants age 50 and older didn’t have a will.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune’s recent article, "How to get started on making a will," reported that many people don’t care to talk with close family members about important financial topics, like their level of financial security, plans for living arrangements in retirement, inheritance, or long-term care.

The Merrill Lynch/Age Wave report, “Family & Retirement: The Elephant in the Room,” explains some of this is due to time constraints and that people say they’ll do it eventually.

However, it’s easy to get started. You can draft an ethical will, also known as a values statement or letter. Do this in the next few weeks or month. The thought is to capture for your immediate family, as well as your grandchildren and great grandchildren, what you want them to know about your values, what mattered to you in life, what traditions you hold dear, and how you’d like the world to become a better place.

Creating an ethical will begins with a family conversation. Once you begin recording your values and discussing them with your family, it’s a short hop to discussions about your estate plan.

A great benefit of starting the dialog with an ethical will is that there’s less pressure on the family and more time to become comfortable with the topic.

These discussions will lead you to finally meet with an estate planning lawyer to write your will.

In addition to creating your estate plan, you’ll want to arrange your finances so you can age comfortably, draft a durable power of attorney in case you become incapacitated, and write an advanced health directive.

These details will come out of those initial discussions about values, and not the other way around.

Reference: Minneapolis Star Tribune (September 8, 2018) "How to get started on making a will"

Need help getting started? Give us a call at (978) 342-1914 or visit us at www.dellamonaca.com.

What Is an Ethical Will?

Unlike a will or trust (or a living will, which concerns end-of-life medical issues), an ethical will is designed to give heirs and future generations a glimpse into the values, principles, life lessons, and beliefs that inspired and motivated the giver.

Drafting a perfect legal document is not always the same as crafting the perfect estate plan. Sometimes it is worth the extra energy, time, and effort to draft your true intentions in a more approachable form and even a different document. It is a concept new to many, but consider the use of an “ethical will.”

What is an ethical will? Think of your will as providing the legally binding “how” when it comes to your estate plan. How do you want your assets to be distributed? On the other hand, think of your ethical will as providing the non-binding “why” when it comes to the matters of the heart behind your estate. Why are you distributing your assets as you are?

WealthManagement.com took up the topic of ethical wills in a recent article titled “The Rep’s Guide to Ethical Wills.”

You might say that there are two important aspects when it comes to planning for your estate. On the one hand, every decision is a legal decision. Consequently, you have to appease the law and the court system. On the other hand, every decision intimately and ultimately effects your loved ones, who just need to understand your decisions.

The dilemma is that legal language is not great at expressing an emotive concept, but you can always work outside the lines to ensure that your point gets made with an ethical will, in which you write your reasons, emotions, and hopes in an entirely non-legal way.

The ethical will can appease the emotional curiosity in the same way that the will sticks around to speak to your legal needs after you are gone.

Reference: WealthManagement.com (February 25, 2014) “The Rep’s Guide to Ethical Wills”

Intrigued? We can help you create documents that address your wishes both legally and logically. Give us a call at (978) 342-1914 or visit us at www.dellamonaca.com.