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Beyond The Holidays

While passing down family recipes, reliving memories of holidays past, and gathering around to decorate the tree are cherished traditions. These moments also present a perfect opportunity to discuss, preserve, and protect your family's broader legacy. Here’s how. Read more…


2024.12.15

Beyond the Festivities: How The Holidays Can Inspire Your Family Legacy Planning

As Thanksgiving passes and Christmas approaches, many families are busy planning menus, coordinating travel, and preparing for extended time together. While the turkey, stuffing, and gift wrapping and giving are important (and delicious) traditions, this cherished holiday season offers something even more valuable—a perfect opportunity to think about, discuss, and preserve your family's legacy. 

In this article, you'll discover realistic ways to capture family stories during your holiday gathering, learn how to start meaningful legacy conversations without awkwardness, and understand how to transform these precious moments into a comprehensive Legacy Plan that protects your family's values and assets for generations to come. This year, consider using your holiday gathering as a springboard for the meaningful conversations that can shape your family's future.


The Heart of Legacy Planning: More Than Just Money

When most people think about legacy planning, they often focus solely on financial assets. But true legacy planning is so much more. It's about preserving your family's stories, values, traditions, and the wisdom gained through generations. After working with families to support them with their estate planning and being there at the end of life, I’ve learned that these are the things that matter most. While financial assets do matter values, insights, lessons, stories, and experiences, plus sentimental items, are almost always more important to families than financial assets.

Those moments around the dinner table or sitting in the family room sharing old family recipes, telling stories about loved ones passed, or discussing what matters most to your family, are the building blocks of a meaningful legacy. The warmth and light of the holidays, with their focus on gratitude and family togetherness, provide an ideal setting to explore these deeper aspects of your legacy. 


Using Holiday Gatherings to Plan for the Future

With a little planning, Christmas can be a great time to discuss the future. These conversations don't have to be formal or heavy—they can emerge naturally from your holiday interactions:

Talk About Family Values: When expressing gratitude, encourage family members to share what they value most about being part of the family. These discussions can help inform how you structure your estate plan to reflect and perpetuate these values.

Discuss Family Philanthropy: If giving back is important to your family, use this time to talk about causes that matter to everyone. This can lead to meaningful discussions about charitable giving and how to incorporate it into your legacy plan.

Address Family Dynamics: Holiday gatherings often reveal family dynamics that should be considered in your estate planning. Who are the peacemakers? Who might need additional support? Understanding these dynamics can help you create a plan that promotes family harmony rather than conflict.

Bring Up Your Own Planning: If you’ve recently completed your own estate planning process, or plan to before the end of the year, or early next year, this is a great time to bring up your plans. Consider saying: “Because I want to make sure that everything is as easy as it can be for you all if something happens to me, I’m doing/did a kind of estate planning called Legacy Planning, and I’d love to share about it with you because you’ll all be impacted. Are you open to having a conversation about that, and what we all want to happen for ourselves if we become incapacitated or when we die?”

Understanding your family's values, philanthropic interests, and dynamics isn't just about having nice conversations—it's about gathering essential information that will help you create a Legacy Plan that truly serves your family and preserves harmony for generations to come. Passing


Making Legacy Planning Part of Your Holiday Tradition

The key to successful legacy planning is making it an ongoing process, not a one-time event. Consider establishing new holiday traditions that support this goal. Here are a few ideas:

Create a Family Time Capsule: Each year, have family members contribute something meaningful to a time capsule—letters, photos, or small items that represent the year's important moments.

Start a Family Mission Statement: Work together to create and update a family mission statement that reflects your shared values and goals. This can guide both current decisions and future legacy planning.

Document Family Medical History: While families are together, take time to update your family medical history. This information is critical for future generations and can inform healthcare decisions.

Remember that legacy planning isn't a one-time task but a continuous journey that can be woven into your family's holiday traditions each year. By incorporating these intentional practices into every holiday gathering, you create a natural way to capture and preserve what matters most while building a stronger foundation for your family's future.


How We Help You Create a Lasting Legacy

While holiday conversations are valuable for legacy planning, they're just the beginning. To truly protect your family's legacy and ensure your wishes are carried out, you need professional guidance and support to create a comprehensive Legacy Plan. Our Legacy Planning process goes beyond traditional estate planning to capture not just your assets, but your values, wisdom, and family story. At Adams Law Office, LLC we help ensure that the conversations you have in the family room this holiday season become part of a lasting legacy that benefits generations to come.

Call today for a consultation with one of our caring and experienced Attorneys!

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