How To Kickstart End Of Life Conversations?

Look, we get it – nobody wakes up excited to probe their parents about their Will. But not having these tough conversations can negatively affect your family in the long run.

Understanding your parent's Wills and estate planning is essential to ensure their final wishes are met before it's too late. Not to mention if they have allocated you as a beneficiary.

Now, for the tricky part.

How do you bring up the conversation of wills with your parents?

Safewill, Australia's highest-rated will-writing platform, wants to help make this chat a little bit easier for you. Hence, we put together this article to provide valuable tips for discussing wills with your loved ones.

Keep reading if you're ready to bite the bullet and learn to discuss a will with your parents.

Why is it important to talk to your parents about their Will?

1. Avoids those nasty arguments families have post-death.

Getting clear with the family members about your parent's legacy, such as brothers, sisters, and close loved ones, will set expectations.

There's nothing worse than arguing with a family member whose expectations aren't based on reality.

Being prepared and having these conversations early allows everyone to process and understand your parents' last wishes while also allowing space to ask your parents questions based on their decisions.

2. Protects Your Parents' Legacy

One of the most rewarding aspects of discussing your parent's Will with them now is knowing their wishes and legacy are met when they pass away.

Why is this so important?

Unfortunately, in many cases, some family members may want to contest the Will, making you step up to the plate to protect the wishes.

What are some things to remember when bringing up the topic of Wills? Especially with a loved one.

We'd be lying if we said this is easy; it's not. Thankfully, keeping these tips front of mind will make the conversation smoother. We promise.

1. Lead with empathy.

Want to know the most important thing to remember when bringing up the conversation of wills to your parents?

The answer – is empathy.

Having compassion when approaching this topic will make your parents feel more at ease talking about their own mortality. A great place to start is by reminding them how much you care about them and are only doing this to make sure their final wishes are met.

2. Involve the whole family

Leaving out family members when it comes down to understanding what your parents want will often lead to frustration and fights.

On top of this, different family members might have different outlooks on where the assets should go. Having everyone involved reduces the friction of any surprises popping up post-death.

3. Be prepared

The worst thing you could do here is drop this conversation on your family members without some preparation.

Give everyone a heads up and a chance to come prepared with any questions, thoughts and a good time and place for the conversation to take part.

This way, everyone will be ready to bring up and discuss what they want to talk about.

What should you NOT do when discussing wills?

Now that you know what to do when having a Will conversation with your parents, here are a few things you should NOT bring up. (... really important)

Please don't get in a fight about their decisions.

You won't agree with every decision your parents make regarding how they divide their house or who receives what assets.

In saying this, it's normal to ask clarifying questions so you can better understand their final decision.

In no case should this conversation turn into a fight or an argument which leaves you and your parents feeling like this was all a big mistake.

At the end of the day, this is your parents' decision on how they would like to distribute the assets they've spent their life accumulating.

Although having the Will conversation with your family might sometimes be uncomfortable and challenging... At safewill.com, we're here to help keep things simple.

By clicking this link, you can have a bespoke will in under 20 mins whilst cutting the cost of hefty lawyer fees.