Money Matters: Letting the kids in on estate planning

A few weeks ago I blogged about having "The Chat" with your grown children--the chat being about where your assets are and how they can track them down when you're no longer here to tell them. When my mother had The Chat with me, it always gave me the creeps. And now I  am my mother.

Here's an update on letting your adult children know about your estate planning, with advice from legal experts in this article. The key point: Regardless of the wealth of a family, "an annual family meeting can help you create a comfortable forum for discussing your values, priorities and goals related to managing money -- and important details about your wishes for the disposition of your estate. Family meetings also enable parents to clarify their intentions related to any possible misunderstanding that might arise from disproportionate splits of an estate. This is especially important when re-marriages and second families are involved, or when parents want to name charities or unknown entities as beneficiaries."

A practical note: "Identify your executor and specify where you keep your will and other important documents and investment account statements. ...At least one family member should be aware of the location of important records."

There now, that shouldn't be too bad. If only we could divorce money from emotion.