Older generations hold $124 trillion in assets they plan to pass on to loved ones and charity over the next two decades. Many will wait until they are gone to share the wealth, but some are opting to give while they live.

It makes sense. A new survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of Kiplinger found that, when asked what they would want an inheritance used for, both parents and adult children said practical things such as paying down debt, buying a home or securing a retirement.

"There's a recognition that the money would be more useful in their 40s and 50s than in their 60s and 70s," said David Blanchett, head of retirement research at Prudential. "But if you wait to give them that money, you won't get to see it in action. You won't know what impact it has."

For retirees who plan to wait until they die to pass on their inheritance, fear of outliving their money can create paralysis. After all, people are living well into their 80s, which means their money needs to last longer. "There's always an element of what if I need it, I won't be able to take it back," says Michael Conrath, JPMorgan's chief retirement strategist. "Legacy and retirement are connected in terms of the math and in terms of the emotions."

To overcome the fear of running out of money, Conrath says to break retirement savings into three buckets — stable, variable and legacy. The stable bucket is for recurring bills such as rent, food, utilities and healthcare, while the variable bucket is for travel, hobbies, entertainment or other wants. The third bucket is for legacy, which is where the giving comes from.

"Once you have those two parts covered, it really gives people the freedom and the comfort knowing they have the capacity to gift money," said Conrath. "It's a way to remedy some of the fear."

Benefits of giving while you're living

There are several reasons to favor giving while you're alive, for both the giver and the receiver.

Benefits for givers:

• They can reduce the total size of their taxable estate before passing away, minimizing potential state or federal estate taxes.
• They can gift up to $19,000 per recipient in 2026 (married couples may gift up to $38,000 to an individual) without triggering gift tax filings or dipping into their lifetime exemption.
• They may gift appreciated stock to a qualified charity or an heir, thereby avoiding capital gains tax on the stock's growth.
• They may pay medical or tuition bills directly to the institution (which bypasses the $19k limit entirely), or fund a 529 plan.
• They experience the immediate joy and satisfaction of supporting loved ones during key life milestones.

Benefits for heirs:

• They can use the funds immediately to improve their financial health.
• They don't have to pay taxes on it; the federal tax code doesn't treat gifts as taxable income for the recipient. (Appreciated stocks are the exception.)
• Direct gifts eliminate potential delays and legal complications associated with going through probate court after a donor passes away.

How to give while you live

If giving while living sounds like something you want to do but you aren't 100% on board, Blanchett says to test the waters with small gifts. You don't have to give your heirs their entire estate, but you could help your adult child with a down payment on a home or pay for daycare or college tuition for your grandchild.

It can be something as small as a cash gift or an extra deposit into the 529 account. Not only can you help them now when they need it, but you're also preparing them to manage the inheritance they will receive later.

Don't sacrifice your retirement

There is a lot of joy and satisfaction in giving while living, whether it's to your adult children, grandchildren or a beloved charity. Don't start writing checks willy-nilly, though. If you plan to rely on Medicaid, you could disqualify yourself by giving monetary gifts during the 5-year look-back period. Be certain you have a locked-down plan for how to pay for long-term care, as those costs have ballooned in recent years.

In other words, giving can't be at the expense of your retirement. As Pam Krueger, founder and CEO of Wealthramp, warns, you don't want to end up giving too much and being broke.

"The best answer for most people is you don't have to do it all now, and you don't have to do it all later," said Krueger. "Protect your own financial security first and foremost, and then say, 'OK, I can give this much now while I'm alive and this much when I'm dead.'"

Editor's note: Want more help making this decision? Take our quiz on giving while you live vs waiting until death.

We know this can be a contentious conversation. If you want to share your opinion, reach out to us at KipInheritanceTalk@futurenet.com.

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Give while you're living or wait until you die? That's the choice for many retirees sitting on a sizable nest egg as they live out their golden years.

At last check, an estimated $124 trillion in assets are expected to be passed on in the Great Wealth Transfer, according to research firm Cerulli Associates. While most of it will go to heirs after their deaths, many people want to give while they are still alive.

After all, a new Morning Consult survey conducted on behalf of Kiplinger found that when asked what they would want an inheritance used for, both parents and adult children cited practical uses such as paying down debt, buying a home or securing retirement, all of which can benefit heirs now or in the future.

On the one hand, if you wait until you die, the money has more time to grow and compound; on the other, if you give while you live, you can enjoy the fruits of your labor or help someone now. You can also do a little bit of both: give a little while you are alive and leave the rest for when you're gone.

Which giving approach works best for you depends on your financial goals, risk tolerance and personal values. To determine which type of giver you are, take our quiz.

Editor's note: We know this can be a contentious conversation. If you want to share your opinion, reach out to us at KipInheritanceTalk@futurenet.com.

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Asking about your parents' finances can feel awkward until an emergency hits. You've procrastinated for years, but now, here you sit across from your parents at the kitchen table, talking about the grandkids or their last vacation, and a quiet voice in your head starts whispering about the urgency to ask the important questions:

• Do they have enough money or assets set aside if one of them needs long-term care?
• Do they have a will?
• Who has the passwords to their online banking accounts?
• What happens to the house?

But you worry this conversation might sound as if you're angling for an inheritance, so you keep quiet.

That scenario might be especially familiar to Gen Xers, many of whom are watching their parents age while still supporting their own children or planning their own retirement. Relying on an inheritance can be risky, and talking about it still feels taboo.

It feels so taboo that only about two in five families have discussed inheritance plans, according to new research from a Morning Consult-Kiplinger survey. Not to mention that families rank inheritance next to last among topics they feel comfortable discussing.

However, Psychology Today advises that talking openly about money can reduce anxiety, strengthen relationships and improve well-being.

Unsure of how to bring up money with your aging parents? Here are a few tips to help you start the conversation.

The trade-offs to waiting to discuss money

Many families treat money as a hands-off topic. That is until a parent's long-term care needs, sickness or financial shortfall forces the issue. But by then, decisions about who pays what, how much support is necessary or what trade-offs are acceptable tend to be reactive rather than planned.

Evan Mills, MBA, associate financial adviser at Scholar Advising, points out that if you wait, you could reach estate limits, so the wealth your parents accumulated over the years doesn't go to the next generation; it goes to the government and the tax bill. "It's also difficult to manage at that point if you don't know the wealth your parents accumulated."

Cameron Huddleston also knows the cost of waiting. The personal-finance journalist (and frequent Kiplinger contributor) was 35 when her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. By the time she tried to unravel her mom's finances, the conversation had become much harder.

She later wrote the book Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk, precisely because she wished someone had pushed her to start earlier. "When there's an emergency, it's a lot harder to have a rational conversation about finances," she said. "Your emotions are all over the place."

The inheritance expectation gap

Recent surveys from 2025 and 2026 reveal that conversations about parents' finances remain rare. For instance:

• The Kiplinger-Morning Consult survey points out that 60% of adult children would rather talk to their parents about politics than inheritance, and 80% of parents would rather discuss their physical health than their inheritance plan.
• Among parents age 55 or older with at least $500,000 in investable assets, 68% have not discussed what their children might inherit, and more than half have not shared their net worth. Nearly half of families have still not engaged in estate-planning conversations, according to Fidelity's 2025 Family & Finance Study (PDF).
• Key Wealth's 2026 Inheritance Pulse Poll (PDF) revealed that only 34% of families who expect an inheritance have had a direct family conversation. The rest were operating largely on assumptions. Half of those who had never raised the topic said they avoided it because they didn’t want to appear to be counting on the money.
• Catalyst Advisory's "Family Wealth in America" study found that only 14% of adults had held detailed inheritance discussions, while 36% had never discussed inheritance with their families. Nearly one in four people who expected (or thought they might receive) an inheritance had never talked about it.

How to start a conversation about money with your parents

Parents hesitate to talk about their finances mainly because of uncertainty: 34% cite too many unknowns about how long they'll live or how much will be left, according to the Kiplinger-Morning Consult survey. Another 22% say they haven't gotten around to it. But only 7% say they stay silent because they're uncomfortable discussing money with their children.

Mary Ware, senior wealth adviser and managing partner at Carnegie Private Wealth, says the best way to approach these tough conversations is from a place of preparation, not control. "Don't start by asking, 'How much money do you have?' Start with, 'If something happened and you needed my help, would I know what to do? And what is most important to you?' "

Timing is crucial. Conversations with parents about their finances often work better as a series of short chats than one long talk.

Other ways to kick-start a conversation might include:

1. Choose the right time. If possible, pick a time free of distractions. That might mean avoiding holidays and large family dinners that are already chaotic.
2. Decide whether to start one-on-one or with your siblings. Sometimes you might feel more comfortable beginning this kind of conversation privately before bringing in the rest of your family. If you have siblings, it can help to get everyone on the same page beforehand so no one feels blindsided or left out.
3. Ease in gradually rather than diving straight into the numbers. Lisa McCurdy, founder and managing partner at The Wealth Counselor, advises skipping talk of death and dying when initiating a conversation. Ask, "If it takes 90 days to recover from your procedure, with no one authorized to manage your affairs, what would you be confronted with once you returned home, fully recovered, to your accounts and property?" This frames the conversation around the lack of predictability and the mess that could develop if nobody has been left in charge.
4. Have a few follow-up topics ready. If your initial conversation is brief or nonproductive, try asking more direct questions next time, such as where their important estate documents are kept or if they'd like help organizing their paperwork
5. Leave the option to return to the conversation later. These talks rarely finish in one sitting. Give everyone space to revisit the topic after a few days or weeks. Consistency over time usually works better than pushing for every detail at once.

What needs to be covered

Carnegie Private Wealth's Ware says her bare minimum is knowing where their key financial and legal documents are stored, which bank, investment and retirement accounts they hold, and how to contact their financial, tax, insurance and legal advisers.

You might also want to ask whether they have an updated will, financial and healthcare powers of attorney, and other appropriate estate-planning documents. Find out what insurance coverage they have, what regular bills need to be paid and how they pay them, and where to find information about pensions, Social Security and other sources of income.

She's also a big believer in organization. "An organized financial life is a gift we can all give our loved ones. Your adult children shouldn't have to become financial detectives during an emergency. Whether your information is kept in a binder, secure digital system or another organized place, make sure the appropriate person knows where it is and how to access it."

Another often-overlooked question is about their long-term care preferences and whether they’ve set aside any insurance or savings to cover them. Roughly 70% of people turning 65 will need some form of long-term care, and the costs can quickly upend retirement savings.

Bring in neutral help if needed

When conversations stop or emotions run high, a trusted third party can help lower the temperature. Mills says,

"We always joke with clients to just blame the adviser when breaking the ice." When you have a meeting with a financial adviser, he or she might think it's important to add a potential inheritance and what that might look like, into the plan, she said. A well-designed structure can fall apart if nobody really understands the plan.

Joseph Fresard, attorney at Simasko Law, recommends introducing the conversation by bringing up difficulties friends or family members went through who did not have their affairs in order and letting them know you've found an attorney who you think could help get their estate plan done.

A financial planner or estate attorney can reframe the discussion as professional planning rather than a cross-examination. Your parents might want to go over the details with an adviser first before bringing you into the conversation.

Know enough to help your parents protect their future

Keep in mind that asking the size of your future inheritance might not be in your best interest at this time. You don't need that exact number to be informed.

What you do need is enough information to help your parents protect their own future and to prepare yourself for what’s to come. Essentially, you're asking for information to help keep them from losing their dignity and their independence, and that's a conversation worth having.

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We asked millionaires to show us the money, and several dozen have. The bulk of them are ordinary people like you and me, working hard, saving diligently and living within their means.

They're teachers and entrepreneurs and project managers from all across the U.S., from Shoshoni, Wyoming, to West Lakeland, Minnesota, to Virginia Beach and San Diego. They're taking care of their families and planning for the future.

They're also part of the Great Wealth Transfer ­— the estimated $124 trillion of assets that will flow from older generations to heirs and charities through 2048.

So we wanted to know how they're talking with their heirs about inheritance and all the uncomfortable details that involves.

To find that out, we created what we're calling the Millionaires Panel, made up of 30 of the millionaires who've been featured in our ongoing My First $1 Million feature. Their identities are known only to us to protect their privacy and to encourage them to speak openly. What an enthusiastic crowd they are, too — on the first survey, we had a 100% participation rate. Who could ask for more and get it?

Let's find out where these real-life millionaires stand on these three issues:

• Transparency with their kids about their financial situation
• Equal vs unequal estate distribution
• Capping inheritance to avoid demotivation

Are these millionaires talking with their kids about their money?

According to Kiplinger's Trillion Dollar Talk survey, conducted by Morning Consult, more than half of parents ages 55 and older say they rarely or never discuss money with their children.

That number changes as income increases. Overall, 45% of adults say they discuss money often or sometimes with their children, but among adults with income above $100,000, that increases to 56%, with only 11% saying they "never" do (as opposed to 18% overall).

Many of our Millionaires Panel members have followed this trend, focusing on financial literacy when their kids were young and prioritizing financial transparency as adults.

One respondent reported developing what he calls the Family Wealth Mission Statement to outline his family's values and priorities so his kids know what's important to him and their mother. "Communication is vital in preparing the next generation to be good stewards in preserving, growing and passing on this gift and legacy."

Another parent shared that he and his spouse keep their family dynamics in a healthy place by being upfront about the impact of retirement spending on the kids' inheritance.

"Since we are open with our children about our finances," he said, "and since they understand that their inheritance is, in part, determined by how long we live and how much we need to spend to take care of ourselves during retirement, they have been very supportive."

What other panelists said:

• "The broad concept of estate planning was incorporated into a gradual education process about money, saving, investing, debt and retirement planning that began in childhood. They were all familiar concepts that reduced at least some of the fear or uncertainty when they became an adult and began to deal with them firsthand."
• Our financial talk "was very matter of fact (take the emotion out of it). We're all going to die someday — better for everyone to discuss with a clear head... The more you communicate and discuss, the freer you become!"
• "(In our conversation), I wanted to make sure there was guaranteed money for the kids in case my husband remarries a gold-digger, you know? I mean, not really, but yeah, it's crossed my mind."

Should inheritances be split 50/50?

On the question of whether they plan to split their estate equally among their heirs or perhaps adjust inheritances based on their kids' individual circumstances, many of the panelists said they are defaulting to equal distribution, with one parent noting that people should avoid picking favorites.

"There should be no favorites," he said. "Love all that are close to you equally. Don't create a rift or friction after you pass."

Another parent has decided on a 50/50 split despite struggling with whether she should differentiate because her daughter has children.

"I worry about 'even' vs 'fair,'" she said. "One of my kids (my daughter) is married and has children; the other (my son) is currently single with no kids. Should she get more because of the grandchildren? Or should I just run with two kids, 50/50? Right now, it's the latter."

Illustrating a dilemma many parents face, one respondent shared how his mother left all of her investments and savings to the son who "needed it most," because he was underemployed and living paycheck-to-paycheck. Then she divided her physical assets in other ways.

"We discussed who needed financial help vs who was deserving of help," the panelist wrote. "Once we worked through that conversation, it became very easy."

What other panelists said:

• "I don't plan to leave any money to people. It's all going to charity upon my death."
• "Both of our children are fiscally responsible and relatively financially comfortable, so there is minimal motivation for financial jealousy."
• "I think people rarely admit that they want to leave certain close family members, i.e., siblings, children, etc., more money simply because they like them better."

Should inheritances be capped to avoid demotivation?

Another area we explored involves whether parents are planning to limit how much they leave their children to ensure they don't decide to crash on the sofa for the rest of their lives.

For example, Microsoft founder Bill Gates has said that he's leaving less than 1% of his billions to his three children because he doesn't want his good fortune to prevent them from achieving their own success. Granted, less than 1% of $115 billion will still be hundreds of millions, but still.

Taking a similar approach, one of our panelists wrote, "I have a fear that if they find out the potential inheritance, it could demotivate them for grades, life and job seeking, etc. (I) prefer to keep them motivated."

Another panelist said she plans to leave her children $4 million each but will expect them to focus on making their own way.

"Our kids know that they will inherit $4 million each, because that is the state tax exclusion in Illinois," she noted. "Everything (else will) pretty much go to charity. This means my children, who are 21 and 24, need to make their own living. They are motivated to do so."

What other panelists said:

• "I know wealthy families who have split apart because of arguments over money. There are also some who practice false scarcity because they don't want to spoil their children. There has to be a middle ground. I hope our children grow into capable adults who realize their worth is more than money. I hope they utilize their money as a tool to enhance life for themselves and for others."
• "I'm so glad I get to give (my kids) enough to make life comfortable, but not enough to ruin them, because too much money is a curse, I think. … I like knowing that when I die, they'll be able to benefit in some way, and I hope there will be a moment when they sit back and say, 'Thanks, Mom. You were awesome.'"

In the next article, we'll explore how our Millionaires Panel responded to questions about whether an adult child who is an aging parent's caregiver should receive a larger inheritance than their siblings.

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This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

Over the next two decades, an estimated $124 trillion will move from older generations to their heirs, making the Great Wealth Transfer the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in American history.

Most families with $10 million or more in complex, multigenerational assets that I advise have already done the technical work: Trusts are funded, powers of attorney are current, the generation-skipping exposure has been modeled.

None of that determines whether the transfer actually holds. What determines that is whether heirs understand the reasoning behind the structure, not just the structure itself.

A trust can tell your heirs what to do with what they inherit. It can't tell them why you made the choices you made, and why is usually the piece that decides whether wealth strengthens a family across generations or fails to sustain it in the first one.

A lesson I learned the hard way

Early in my career, an aging family member began showing signs of dementia. He had built real financial success over a long professional career, but he had never married and had no spouse or child positioned to step in.

Because he had never executed a power of attorney or healthcare directive, our family had to petition a court for the authority to help him. I became his court-appointed guardian in my early 30s and served in that role for eight years until he passed away.

What stayed with me wasn't the legal gap itself. It was that someone that accomplished, that educated, still ended up in a public guardianship proceeding over documents that take an afternoon to execute.

Sophistication in your portfolio doesn't protect you from a gap in your authority documents, and I've watched it happen to plenty of clients who assumed their success made them exempt.

Silence is a bigger risk than estate tax

Advisers and clients alike spend enormous energy on exemption planning, basis step-up and trust jurisdictions. It's worth doing, and rarely the reason families fracture after a transfer. They fracture over unexplained decisions.

One heir receives liquid assets. Another receives an interest in the operating business or the real estate portfolio. Absent an explanation of the reasoning, once the person who made that decision is gone, the reasoning goes with them.

Beneficiaries fill the silence with their own narrative, usually one involving favoritism, and that narrative is where litigation and the estrangement start. I call probate the original reality show. Every year in practice reinforces it.

Have the conversation about intent now. If you haven't had the conversation, you're certainly not alone. More than half of parents age 55 and older surveyed by Morning Consult for Kiplinger's Trillion Dollar Talk report say they rarely or never discuss money with their children.

Three moves to make beyond the documents:

Put your reasoning in writing, separate from the dispositive documents. A letter of wishes, kept alongside the trust instrument, isn't legally binding, but it's the piece your heirs will read for context on why the plan is structured as it is.

Convene the family before a crisis forces a conversation. You don't need to disclose account values to communicate priorities, though I recommend making these discussions common and hosting them periodically.

A single structured conversation about intent can pre-empt years of downstream disputes among co-trustees and beneficiaries.

Treat the plan as a living instrument, not a closed file. A plan drafted a decade ago rarely reflects your current family, business interests, or fiduciary appointments.

Revisit it on a real cadence, and reflect on the reasoning behind it, not only the numbers.

Think of your estate plan as a memoir, not a mechanism

I encourage clients to think of an estate plan less as a set of instructions triggered by death and more as a memoir — a document that ties back to the values and judgment you want to carry forward, not one that simply activates on your passing.

That reframing changes the starting point. Instead of beginning with distributions and structures, start with a harder question: What does this family stand for, and has anyone put it in writing where your heirs can find it?

Plans that skip that step have direction and no origin, and a plan built on nothing rarely survives contact with real money, real grief and real responsibility arriving at the same time.

The Great Wealth Transfer is not primarily a legal event unfolding in your attorney's office. It's a human one, moving through legal channels.

The families who come through it intact are the ones who treat it that way from the start.

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This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

For years, Dolly Parton insisted she didn't want to leave her family with a "mess" after her passing.

She had no children, and her husband of over 50 years, Carl Dean, died in 2025. Because her estate involves much more than basic financial accounts — encompassing her brand, song catalog, theme park, charities, and a large extended family — she took proactive steps.

Following her death on August 25, reports indicate she used trusts, business entities and financial managers to keep the majority of her assets out of public probate court.

Unfortunately, even the best-laid plans can spark a fight where control and loyalty clash with money.

What's happening with Parton's estate

According to court papers reported by The New York Times and other outlets, Parton's longtime manager has sued her nephew and former head of security, Bryan Seaver, alleging he threatened staff and partners and vowed to "destroy the entire brand" unless he was paid.

In the article, Seaver denied threatening anyone associated with Parton's estate and said that his messages had been twisted to portray him as an antagonist. Parton's sister, Frieda, has said the family isn't fighting about the estate. Currently, the manager has requested a restraining order against her nephew.

Most inheritance battles are not about a $450 million empire. Instead, arguments often start with who has control of the estate, whether the inheritance was fair (or unfair), a surprise in the estate paperwork or the fact that no documents exist outlining your plan for the estate.

A new Kiplinger-Morning Consult survey highlights a generational divide in family financial planning: Two in five families have never discussed inheritance, and 30% of parents have no formal estate plan at all.

Ron Gura, co-founder and CEO of Empathy, provides some context based on a survey by the company:

• Less than one-third of families have formal estate plans (31%) or financial plans (30%) in place.
• More than half (53%) say existing estate documents are incomplete, outdated or simply unfindable.
• More than one in four rely on informal or verbal plans, which offer no legal protection and are not formally documented.
• 60% operate with fragmented or no knowledge of their family's financial plans.

While Parton's estate isn't typical, some aspects are similar to every estate: Who gets the house, will the assets be split fairly, who is left in charge and who thought they were promised more than the estate planning documents actually say, for example.

What are the best lessons to protect your estate from post-death fights? Let's break it down.

1. Put your plan in writing

A missing, outdated or half-finished estate plan is likely to spark a dispute, even in the closest of families. That's why it's important to update your estate planning documents every three to five years or after a major life event, such as a divorce.

2. Consider a trust

A will has to go through probate court before most assets can be distributed. That process is public, can take months and can be expensive in the long run.

A funded living trust usually avoids probate for any assets you name in the trust. The trustee can follow your instructions faster and privately, without waiting for a court to approve every step.

3. Specify who is in charge

Someone must carry out your plans after you're gone. But if you don't name an executor, a court or state law might name one for you.

Choosing who is in charge lets you pick an executor who is organized, trusted and able to follow your wishes. That might be a third-party trustee or executor with the authority to change locks, pay bills and follow your plan without waiting for your family to vote.

4. Explain unequal gifts while you still can

Most fights start with "why do they get this or that and not me?" If one child gets the business and another gets cash, explain your reasoning during a family discussion.

Phil Reed, estate and asset protection attorney at Reed Law, says fairness is inevitably the first concern. But fairness and equality aren't the same: "The primary thing to keep in mind when deciding how to divide your estate is communicating the reasons for that decision and having those memorialized in your estate plan specifically."

Read more: Why Leaving an Equal Inheritance to Your Children Could Backfire

5. Write down who gets what

Make a list of "who wants what" for things such as jewelry, artwork, the lake cabin, the '67 Chevy and more, and keep it somewhere safe. Dividing your personal property beforehand can temper fights after you're gone. Dividing it after your passing is often why siblings stop speaking.

6. Keep things private

Kim Hegwood, owner and managing attorney at Your Legacy Legal Care, says that if someone is seeking privacy, a will might not be enough.

"A will must go through probate for it to be enforceable. Depending on the person's wishes, the assets they own, and how they want things to be managed upon incapacity or death, a trust may be the best type of estate planning tool to help keep it from the public eye."

7. No-contest clauses

Hegwood notes that a no-contest clause basically says, "If you challenge this plan and lose, you forfeit what I have left you." It can be a strong deterrent, but only if the person has something to lose. If you disinherit someone, a no-contest clause won't mean much to them.

However, this clause isn't absolute. "In Texas, for example, a court generally won't enforce one against someone with probable cause who brought the challenge in good faith. A no-contest clause discourages frivolous fights, but it does not replace a well-crafted plan," Hegwood says.

Final word on estate disputes

Dolly Parton reportedly took a firm stance: Having seen what happens when celebrities die without a plan, she didn't want that chaos for her own family. Unfortunately, the first public fight after her death wasn't about who got the rhinestones — it was a battle for control.

The lesson? A solid estate plan ensures your assets and healthcare wishes are honored while supporting your loved ones. But as headlines show, things don't always go as planned. While an estate plan can't erase your heirs' grief, it can keep your legacy from turning into a family feud.

Hegwood adds, "We always say the kindest thing you can do for the people you love is to make sure they never have to guess what you wanted. Grief is hard enough without adding a legal fight."

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Gen Xers and millennials are in line to receive trillions of dollars in the Great Wealth Transfer, but first the money must pass to the surviving spouse. Known as horizontal wealth transfer, women will benefit more, as they statistically outlive their husbands by an average of five years.

Of the $124 trillion in wealth expected to transfer hands during the next two decades, $54 trillion will move horizontally to the spouse, according to a 2024 Cerulli Associates report. Once the widow spends money on healthcare, travel and other expenses, what's left will go to the younger generations.

Inheritance of any size might be welcome, given that many Gen Xers and millennials, based on a new survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of Kiplinger, don't expect any windfall. That's even though 47% of parents expect to leave a meaningful one.

This gap between expectation and reality highlights a crucial step in the wealth transfer process: The horizontal shift between spouses. Understanding why it occurs and how surviving spouses can plan for it is essential to preserving family wealth for the next generation.

Why the horizontal wealth transfer happens

Making sure your spouse is taken care of usually drives horizontal wealth transfer, but if that's not enough, the tax code offers incentives to stay motivated. The Unlimited Marital Deduction lets an individual transfer an unlimited amount of assets to the surviving spouse free of estate and gift taxes. If the wealth was passed to an adult child or children upon the first spouse's death, it could trigger estate taxes in certain circumstances.

"The typical process is you leave your money to your spouse, and after that it goes to the kids," said Derrick Longo, a wealth adviser at Savant Wealth Management. "But there's no default right answer. It's very specific for every family and situation."

If you're a surviving spouse, do this

In the Great Wealth Transfer, surviving spouses will be the first to receive the wealth; they need to plan now to preserve it later.

Take the so-called widow's tax penalty for starters. This occurs in the year after a spouse dies and the surviving partner starts filing as a single taxpayer. At that time, their tax brackets are reduced by 50%, and the standard deduction is cut in half, forcing them to pay more taxes if they don't plan for it. But if they do prepare, they have options, including:

• If the surviving spouse has dependent children, they can delay filing as single for two years. After that, they might choose to file as head of household.
• They can file a married filing jointly return for the calendar year in which the spouse passed away.
• Space out income-generating events such as retirement withdrawals and Roth conversions from the inheritance.

On the positive side, the surviving spouse gets a big tax break on inherited real estate, stocks and taxable investment and savings accounts. The value of the assets resets to the current market value on the date of death, erasing capital gains built up over the lifetime (known as a "step-up" in cost basis). If you sell soon after, you might owe little to no capital gains tax, depending on state property laws and how the assets were titled.

The surviving spouse can also roll an inherited IRA or 401(k) into their own name, delaying required minimum distributions (RMDs) until they turn age 73 or 75, depending on their birth year. If a child inherits that same account, the 10-year rule usually applies, requiring them to empty the account (and pay the taxes) within a decade.

Manage healthcare to preserve future wealth

Expected drains on future generations' inheritances include long-term care and healthcare costs. In Kiplinger's survey, 24% of parents fear these costs will erode their wealth.

It makes sense. Fidelity estimates the average 65-year-old will spend about $185,000 on healthcare in retirement, and that doesn't include long-term care, which can get expensive. The average annual cost for a private room in a nursing home was $129,575 in 2025, while an in-home aide cost $80,080. Money once earmarked for the kids can quickly become money spent on aging without the proper planning.

When it comes to covering healthcare expenses in retirement, surviving spouses can take out long-term care insurance, self-fund future healthcare expenses from their savings, health savings accounts (HSAs) or investments.

Which option makes sense for you depends on your health, longevity and finances.

For instance, long-term care insurance might make the most sense if:

• You can afford the premiums.
• Your family or trusted friends can handle the paperwork and claims process for you.
• You crave peace of mind that comes with insurance.
• You're healthy enough to meet underwriting guidelines.

Meanwhile, self-funding your long-term care needs might make the most sense if:

• You're healthy.
• Your family health history is largely free of chronic or heritable debilitating illnesses.
• You've saved enough for your retirement.
• You have liquid assets you can access easily without triggering major tax consequences.

Figure out how to spend to keep the estate growing

An inheritance can bring a desire to spend more, but to ensure the surviving spouse has enough to go around, a retirement spending strategy is essential to the planning process. Spouses can use several withdrawal strategies beyond the traditional 4% rule, including the bucket approach, the flooring strategy and a delayed Social Security collection plan, among others.

If you need help staying disciplined and want to worry less because you know where your money is and how much you can spend, the bucket approach might be for you.

If you want a steady monthly income or are hesitant to spend because of stock market fluctuations, the me-first or flooring method of spending might be for you.

For surviving spouses who want to maximize cash flow later on, the delaying Social Security strategy could be the best approach.

The idea is to find a plan that matches you and stick to it. That will ensure you have enough money to live your ideal retirement and have some left for the remaining heirs.

Plan today to preserve for tomorrow

The horizontal wealth transfer is the first stop of the Great Wealth Transfer, and it's set to benefit women primarily. With $54 trillion expected to pass to surviving spouses, that's a lot of money to protect, preserve and grow.

The good news is the next-in-line spouse doesn't have to wait until their partner is gone to prepare. A little foresight now can help ensure the windfall lasts for generations to come.

More Trillion Dollar Talk

• How Real Families Are Handling The Great Wealth Transfer
• The $124 Trillion Great Wealth Transfer: Fact vs Fiction Quiz
• Could You Handle a Sudden Windfall?
• Before You Leave Your Home to Your Children, Ask These Questions

Being named an agent in a financial power of attorney is often viewed as a simple legal formality, but stepping into the role of a financial agent is a serious, hands-on job.

Beyond signing checks, an agent assumes strict fiduciary duties that demand meticulous recordkeeping, clear communication and a solid grasp of some complex administrative rules.

From overcoming bank pushback and family friction to managing Social Security rules and healthcare premiums, navigating the day-to-day reality of this role requires equal parts legal awareness and practical strategy.

This essential document is missing from too many estate plans. Of the 46% of people surveyed who have an estate plan, only 14% had a financial power of attorney (POA, or FPOA for financial), according to a report from Trust & Will.

What is a financial power of attorney?

A financial power of attorney (FPOA) is a legal document that authorizes someone else — known as an agent or attorney-in-fact — to make financial and property decisions on behalf of the principal.

The person creating the POA is called the principal. When someone names you FPOA, it does not mean giving up control of their own money or legal rights; it simply creates a legal concurrent authority for you, their agent, to manage financial matters according to their best interests.

The type of POA the principal chooses dictates when it takes effect:

• A durable power of attorney gives the agent financial access as soon as it is signed and stays active when the principal becomes incapacitated, ensuring immediate help during an emergency.
• A springing power of attorney, on the other hand, remains inactive until a doctor officially certifies in writing that you are unable to manage your affairs, which protects your control while healthy but can cause delays when urgent financial decisions are needed.

"A financial power of attorney is part of making sure the people you trust can easily step in if something happens to you. It’s a fantastic tool that helps limit uncertainty when your loved ones need it most," Heather Zack, senior vice president of Private Client Services at the Carson Group, told Kiplinger.

Your legal duties as a financial agent

When you're designated as a financial agent, you assume fiduciary duties, which is the highest legal standard of trust and care. An agent is legally required to:

• Act in their best interest: You must make decisions that benefit them, not yourself.
• Avoid conflicts of interest: You cannot mix your funds with their personal bank accounts (known as commingling) or use their assets for personal gain unless explicitly permitted by the document.
• Keep detailed records: You must track every transaction, receipt and decision made using the POA.

Important limitations of a FPOA

Possessing a financial power of attorney isn't a full access pass to the principal's finances, nor does it give you the right to enrich yourself. Your fiduciary responsibilities require you to put their interests first.

Two glaring limitations to your authority are the inability to access Social Security or Medicare accounts. If you're charged with paying their healthcare expenses and they are enrolled in Medicare, you will need additional forms completed and filed to grant you the necessary authority.

Here are three important limitations you need to know:

1. Does not override the principal. As long as the principal is competent, their decisions can override those of you, the agent. The principal can also revoke the POA at any time.
2. Ends automatically at death: A financial POA loses all legal validity the moment the principal passes away. At that point, the executor named in a will or a court-appointed administrator takes over estate management.
3. Medical decisions are separate: A financial POA strictly covers property, money and legal matters. Health care decisions require a separate medical power of attorney (or healthcare proxy).

How to access Social Security and Medicare accounts

The rules are different when it comes to accessing Social Security or Medicare accounts. If you're responsible for paying for their healthcare, access to their Social Security account is critical. Even if there is a financial or health power of attorney or you share a bank account with a son or daughter, it's not enough.

The easiest way to designate someone as a representative payee is through direct electronic submission in your my Social Security account. Otherwise, you can start the process by calling the SSA at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778 if you are hearing impaired) or visiting your local SSA office.

To access the Medicare account of your parent or loved one, you'll need the Medicare patient to execute an Appointment of a Representative (Form 1696) and Authorization to Disclose Personal Health Information (CMS-10106) (PDF). You can complete and submit the form online, or print a PDF copy and send the completed form to: 1-800-MEDICARE Written Authorization Dept. PO Box 1270, Lawrence, KS 66044.

For more detailed information about how these appointments work, read: Secure Your Social Security: The Essential Role of a Representative Payee and How to Access Your Parents’ Medicare: Enroll and Manage Their Care.

Common administrative and financial hurdles

While serving as a financial agent under a POA is a significant responsibility, agents often face administrative, legal and interpersonal hurdles when trying to carry out their duties.

"Many financial institutions have their own review processes for powers of attorney, and some may even require additional paperwork before letting you take any action. Even when a POA is legally valid, banks, brokerages, and other financial firms often want to verify the document to confirm it meets their internal requirements," Zack explained.

Below are examples of the resistance you might meet and where.

Best practices to minimize friction

Even with a legally valid power of attorney in hand, navigating banks, family dynamics and record-keeping can present unexpected challenges.

"Whenever possible, it makes sense to have those conversations in advance. Many institutions will review or note a power of attorney before it’s needed, and addressing questions ahead of time can reduce friction during an emergency," Zack told Kiplinger. She emphasized that "estate planning shouldn't be a 'set it and forget it' exercise. One of the most important parts of planning is making sure the documents you have will actually work when you need them."

You can head off most of these problems before they start by following a few essential best practices:

• Preclear documents: Work with the principal’s primary banks and investment institutions to submit and approve the POA document before an emergency occurs.
• Keep strict separation: Maintain completely separate bank accounts for the principal, and keep detailed records, receipts and logs for every transaction.
• Communicate transparently: Provide regular financial updates or accounting summaries to immediate family members or co-beneficiaries to prevent suspicion and resolve misunderstandings early.

Financial power of attorney is a worthwhile duty

When an aging parent or relative grants you financial power of attorney, they're placing immense trust in your ability to manage their life's savings, pay their bills and protect their assets. However, many new financial agents are caught off guard by the bureaucratic roadblocks, strict fiduciary standards and unexpected conflicts that arise once they begin acting on the principal's behalf.

Understanding your legal authority — and where agency rules such as Social Security's Representative Payee system take over — is key to managing their finances smoothly and protecting yourself from personal liability.

Related Content

• How to Access Your Parents’ Medicare: Enroll and Manage Their Care
• Secure Your Social Security: The Essential Role of a Representative Payee
• Filing a Deceased Person's Final Income Tax Return
• You Were Made a Trustee. Now What?
• What to Do When You're the Executor of an Estate

Trusts are a common estate planning tool, and with trillions of dollars expected to change hands as wealth moves from one generation to the next now and in the coming years, various trust types and the tax rules surrounding them are getting more attention.

But that might not be a good thing if the IRS is taking a second look.

In a current high-profile case, the tax agency is challenging how one family used an irrevocable trust strategy to pass wealth to their children.

Although the dispute involves a specialized trust arrangement, its potential broader lesson is worth watching for anyone using high-value trusts in their estate plan. Here's more to know.

IRS challenges irrevocable trust tax strategy

The current case involves Nashville residents, the Elcans. The IRS is seeking more than $736 million (roughly $614 million in gift taxes and $122 million in penalties), arguing that the couple's use of three irrevocable trusts didn't qualify for the intended tax treatment.

A little background according to court filings:

• In 2018, Mrs. Elcan set up three grantor-retained annuity trusts (GRATs) to pass wealth to the couple's three children. The two-year irrevocable trusts were funded with marketable securities and closely held business and partnership interests.
• As is typical with GRATs, the trusts made fixed annual payments back to the grantor, while investment growth above a set benchmark passed to the children tax-free.
• The strategy yielded roughly $200 million tax-free for their heirs across two of the trusts.

The trust agreements also contained a "substitution power" that allowed the grantor to swap personal property into the trusts to retrieve original trust assets of equal value. The grantor reportedly used that power to pull investments out of the trusts and replace them with promissory notes — essentially IOUs promising to pay the trusts back with interest.

The trusts used the promissory notes to satisfy the required annual payments, effectively canceling amounts the grantor owed the GRATs.

After auditing the arrangement, the IRS issued a notice of deficiency demanding over $730 million in gift taxes and penalties.

According to court filings, the agency argues that using the personal promissory notes to satisfy the GRAT’s required annuity payments didn't comply with the rules governing qualified annuity interests.

• Specifically, the IRS contends that the arrangement violates Section 2702 of the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury regulations that prohibit GRATs from issuing notes to satisfy annuity payments.
• The agency argues that swapping personal IOUs into the trust and then returning them to cover the required payment was essentially an indirect step transaction designed to bypass the rule.

If that position prevails, the IRS could treat the entire $687.5 million initially transferred to the GRATs as a taxable gift.

Note: The federal gift tax generally applies when someone gives wealth to another person without receiving equal value in return. Certain estate planning strategies can help limit how much of a wealth transfer is treated as a taxable gift when a trust is created.

However, the taxpayers maintain they followed the letter of the law because the trust didn't issue new debt to pay the annuities. Rather, they argue, the existing notes were already trust assets that were legally returned to satisfy the payment obligations.

*The case is Elcan v. Commissioner (Tax Court Docket No. 3405-25). The Tax Court hasn't yet ruled on the taxpayer's motion for summary judgment.

What is a grantor retained annuity trust and how does it work?

A grantor retained annuity trust is an irrevocable trust designed to transfer future investment growth to beneficiaries while allowing the grantor to receive annual payments from the trust for a set period.

The strategy generally works like this:

• A grantor transfers assets to a GRAT and reserves the right to receive annuity payments during the trust term.
• The IRS uses a monthly interest rate (the Section 7520 rate or "hurdle rate") to calculate the present value of the grantor's retained annuity payments.
• If the trust's assets grow faster than the hurdle rate, the excess appreciation can generally pass to the trust beneficiaries at the end of the trust term tax-free, depending on how the GRAT is structured.

But…if the assets don't appreciate as expected, there may be little or nothing left to pass to beneficiaries after the required payments are made, and the grantor receives their principal back through the annuity payments.

In this case, if the U.S. Tax Court agrees with the IRS, the tax treatment of the original transfers could change, potentially making the full value transferred to the GRATs subject to federal gift tax.

A ruling for the IRS could also clarify how similar GRAT arrangements are treated going forward and potentially affect other taxpayers who have used similar strategies.

Trusts and estate planning: Bottom line

The Elcan case (still pending), is a reminder that details matter when using a trust or other potentially high-value estate planning strategies. How trust assets are moved, exchanged, or substituted over time can attract IRS attention.

In this instance, the Tax Court's eventual ruling could provide more guidance on grantor trusts and substitution transactions.

Regardless, always review estate plans periodically and have an estate-planning attorney and tax professional review significant transactions in advance.

Related

• Which Trust Type is Best for Your Heirs?
• Gift Tax Exclusion for 2026
• How Much of Your Inheritance Actually Gets Taxed?
• Capital Gains Tax ETF Strategy Catches Treasury's Attention

When drafting an estate plan, many people treat choosing an executor as a sentimental decision — a way to show trust or single out a reliable loved one. But serving as a personal representative is far more than a gesture of respect; it is a demanding, multi-year administrative and financial job. From navigating probate courts and liquidating real estate to settling final tax liabilities and resolving family tensions, an executor carries real legal responsibility during a time of grief.

To ensure your estate is settled smoothly and your legacy is protected, you need a clear strategy to identify, evaluate and formalize the right choice before you sign your legal documents. "When you name someone as executor, you may effectively be giving them a second job they never applied for," David Haughton, vice president of estate planning at Carson Group, told Kiplinger.

Here are six steps to help you choose the right person (or people) to be your executor.

1. Understand the scope of duties

Ensure you know what you are asking someone to take on. An executor manages probate, locates and values assets, settles debts, files final federal and state tax returns and distributes remaining assets to beneficiaries. The role requires meticulous record-keeping and the ability to deal with court timelines and administrative friction. Understanding what the job entails will help you select the right person.

"I think what surprises executors most is how much more is expected from them beyond simply distributing assets," said Haughton. "It can be a significant time commitment, and the executor is expected to follow the documents and act in the estate’s best interest, even when the family’s expectations differ."

State law typically allows executors to claim reasonable fees paid from the estate. You should decide whether you want to specify compensation terms in your will or default to the statutory amount.

2. Identify potential candidates

Consider both personal contacts and professional options. When selecting an executor, you generally have three choices: A personal representative, such as a family member or friend; a corporate executor; or co-executors.

Because executors face personal liability for fiduciary errors or premature distributions, candidate selection must prioritize capability over sentimentality. Haughton advises that "you want someone who is organized, dependable, financially responsible and able to communicate calmly."

Potential red flags? He said someone with "unresolved family conflict, poor financial judgment or someone whose own circumstances may get in the way" would not be a good candidate.

Most people choose family members due to deep mutual trust and shared personal history. Often, the oldest child will be selected. However, Haughton stresses that just because a child is the firstborn doesn't mean they are necessarily a good fit for the role of executor.

Co-executors within families: Naming two people to act together — for example, two siblings — can lead to administrative deadlocks and delays unless they work exceptionally well together. A trusted friend might offer a layer of separation while maintaining a personal connection to your wishes.

Co-executors, personal and professional: Appoint a trusted friend/family member and a corporate fiduciary to act jointly. The personal representative provides insights into family wishes, while the institution manages the administrative heavy lifting. Read more about corporate executors below.

The hybrid alternative: Co-executors or directed fiduciaries

If you want the personal touch of a loved one combined with the legal weight of a professional, you do not have to choose strictly between the two. While family members often serve out of love and obligation, a professional brings fiduciary expertise, objectivity and operational continuity.

Appointing a corporate executor, including banks, trust companies and estate attorneys, is ideal for large, complex estates, business transfers or situations where family conflict is likely.

Most importantly, Haughton said that there should be a "reason to have both." He points out that it "can be a good thing when you want checks and balances or different perspectives, but it can also slow down decisions and create disagreements."

You should consider including a corporate executor under these circumstances:

• High potential for family conflict. Sibling rivalry blended families, disinheritance and unequal inheritances.
• Complex financial structures and high net worth. Tax exposure, illiquid/diverse assets and ongoing trusts.
• Closely held businesses or active operations. Managing or selling a family business upon the owner's death requires specialized business continuity expertise.

3. Evaluate essential traits and possible constraints

Assess candidates against the practical needs of your estate. Your executor must meet the specific criteria of the state where you live, but general requirements across state lines typically include age, citizenship, residency and legal capacity. Additionally, a felony conviction is often a disqualifying factor.

Be sure that your choice is at least 18 years old, of sound mind — that is not judged incapacitated by a court — and lives in-state. Out-of-state executors are often allowed if they appoint an in-state agent or post a bond.

Here are some factors to consider when choosing a family member or friend to serve as an executor:

• Location and proximity: A local executor can more easily inventory physical assets, handle mail and attend probate court hearings.
• Financial competence: They do not need to be a CPA or attorney, but they must be comfortable hiring professionals and managing accounts.
• Emotional neutrality: Choose someone who can remain objective and fair if family tensions or beneficiary disputes arise.
• Age and health: Ensure the candidate is likely to have the cognitive and physical capability to serve when needed.

4. Have a candid discussion before naming the executor

Never surprise someone with an executor designation. Sit down with your chosen candidate to outline your expectations, the general structure of your assets and where documents are stored.

Confirm they are willing and ready to accept the fiduciary responsibility. Serving as an executor is voluntary, and a court cannot compel someone to serve if they renounce the appointment.

Schedule a dedicated conversation to outline your estate's structure, the types of assets involved, and the general complexity they will encounter. Be transparent about your intentions regarding asset distribution — especially if your plan includes trusts, unequal inheritances, or specific conditions — so your candidate understands the interpersonal environment they will step into.

This conversation gives your chosen candidate a clear, pressure-free opportunity to accept the role or respectfully decline.

5. Designate a successor executor

Always establish a backup option. Life circumstances change. Name at least one alternate executor in case your primary choice predeceases you, becomes incapacitated, or declines to act when the time comes.

• The primary alternative: Name at least one primary successor executor in your will. If your primary choice predeceases you, suffers cognitive decline, moves abroad or resigns when the time comes, the court automatically appoints the successor without requiring a lengthy court hearing.
• Tiered succession and corporate backstop: For long-term security, name a named individual as primary, a secondary individual as first alternate, and an institutional trust company as the final contingent backstop. This prevents the court from having to appoint an unknown administrator of its own choosing.

6. Formalize the appointment and create an accessible operational plan

Make the choice legally binding. Your choice of executor carries no legal authority until it is properly executed in a valid last will and confirmed by the probate court following your death.

Work with a qualified estate planning attorney to draft your will, ensuring it explicitly grants your executor the necessary authority to handle some decisions, such as the authority to sell real estate, manage digital assets and retain legal or financial counsel without requiring prior court approval for every transaction.

Include specific language waiving executor bond requirements if you trust your candidate implicitly, which saves the estate thousands of dollars in premium fees. Finally, store your original signed documents safely and give your executor clear instructions on where to access your will, account inventories and essential property keys when needed.

Use your head, not your heart

Ultimately, the best executor for your estate is not necessarily the relative you feel closest to, but the person most qualified to handle the legal weight, administrative burden and interpersonal dynamics of the role. "People spend a lot of time thinking about who they trust and sometimes not enough time thinking about what they’re asking that person to do," Haughton cautioned.

Taking the time to evaluate candidates objectively, discuss your expectations openly and formalize clear primary and successor choices will save your heirs immeasurable stress and cost down the road.

Once you've made your selections, review your designations every few years or after major life changes to ensure your estate plan stays aligned with your wishes and ready for the future.

Related content

• Is Your Estate at Risk? The 5 Trusts You Need to Understand
• Probate: The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Side of Estate Planning
• Why Leaving an Equal Inheritance to Your Children Could Backfire

In the coming years, older generations — primarily baby boomers — are expected to pass tens of trillions of dollars to their heirs in what's colloquially known as the "Great Wealth Transfer." But cash and stock portfolios aren't the only assets changing hands.

A recent Kiplinger survey found that real estate accounts for about one-third of everything parents expect to leave behind.*

Yet, as houses are passed to the next generation, a surprising amount of uncertainty surrounds what happens next. The same study revealed that 43% of parents and 33% of heirs are left guessing about potential tax bills.

On the surface, inheriting a home comes with significant tax advantages designed to protect against capital gains tax — most notably, the "stepped-up basis" rule. Securing that protection often requires an accurate baseline value, whether through a date-of-death valuation or a retrospective appraisal.

By understanding how tax authorities calculate true property value, where the hidden pitfalls lie and discussing the future with your family, you can safeguard both your financial legacy and their peace of mind.

*Note: Conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of Kiplinger, this survey included more than 5,100 adults age 25 and older. All adult child respondents had at least one living parent, and all parent respondents had at least one child age 18 or older.

How the IRS values an inherited home

When passing a house to the next generation, a home's tax basis typically resets to the property's fair market value (FMV) as of the owner's date of death.

Because the baseline "steps up" to this new standard, heirs who sell the home shortly after inheriting it usually owe little to no federal capital gains tax.

However, whether heirs sell immediately, rent the property or wait years to sell, documenting the home's date-of-death value is essential to claim the stepped-up basis on future tax returns. (If an estate has a federal tax return, executors might be allowed to value the house six months after the date of death).

Unfortunately, when reporting a property's value on tax returns or estate disclosures, families can make the mistake of using one of two incorrect methods:

1. Property tax assessments. Local assessors determine values for property tax purposes, often using automated algorithms, valuation caps, or (at worst) outdated information. Because these figures are usually significantly lower than actual market value, using them might shrink your home's taxable baseline — exposing your heirs to unnecessary capital gains tax rates if they eventually sell.
2. Comparative market analyses (CMAs). A real estate agent's opinion or online estimate offers a helpful starting point for listing a home, but it lacks the formal, standardized methodology that federal tax law requires. As a result, the figure provided might not withstand IRS scrutiny.

To establish an official stepped-up basis for a property you plan to hold, rent or keep long-term, the general IRS "gold standard" requires a formal, qualified appraisal conducted by a licensed or certified real estate appraiser who specializes in retroactive "date-of-death" valuations.

What should an inherited home appraisal look like?

From the IRS point of view, a perfect appraisal occurs on the day of death. In reality, estate administration, probate and the natural grieving process mean months — or years — can elapse before anyone addresses the tax baseline.

That's where a retrospective (or retroactive) appraisal comes in.

Qualified appraisers can evaluate the home today and use historical market data, past comparable sales and public records to determine what the property was worth on a specific past date.

For the IRS to accept the report, the valuation must meet specific criteria:

• Professional credentials. A qualified appraiser with a recognized professional designation and verifiable real estate experience. The valuation must also adhere to the core principles and substance of the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP®).
• Detailed scope. The report should include specific important information, such as the exact valuation date, localized market comparisons leading up to that date and an analysis of the home's physical condition at the time.
• As-is condition. Reflects whether the property was pristine, outdated or in need of repair. Ideally, the home should not be renovated, repaired or staged before the appraiser documents its baseline state to ensure an accurate date-of-death valuation.

Formal inherited home appraisals typically range from $500 to $1,500 and might vary depending on such factors as area, size or property complexity, according to industry cost guides. Compared with potential tax liabilities and penalties, this can be a modest investment in protecting your estate (more on those later).

Quick sales of inherited homes

Do you always need a retrospective appraisal? No.

For heirs selling an inherited property within a six- to 12-month window in an open-market, arm’s-length transaction, the IRS and the U.S. tax court frequently accept the actual closing price as strong evidence of the date-of-death fair market value.

• This might make a separate date-of-death appraisal unnecessary for federal tax reporting, provided that local market conditions remained stable and no material alterations were made to the property during that time.
• If your heirs must file an estate tax return, tax experts generally recommend obtaining a formal retrospective appraisal to establish a stepped-up basis.
• A formal appraisal is often required to complete local probate court inventories. It could also serve as vital, objective documentation to protect the heirs if the IRS audits the tax basis or if beneficiaries dispute the asset's value.

Related: The Estate Tax Exemption Amount for 2026

The cost of an improper valuation

If the IRS audits an estate or personal tax return and finds an unverified or inflated property basis (resulting in a tax underpayment exceeding $5,000), the financial consequences for heirs can be steep.

Beyond paying back the original capital gains tax, the IRS imposes accuracy-related penalties:

• A 20% substantial valuation misstatement penalty. Applied to the tax underpayment if the reported basis is 150% or more of the actual FMV.
• A 40% gross valuation misstatement penalty. Doubled if the claimed basis is 200% or more of the true market value.
• A 20% consistency penalty. Applied automatically if a larger estate files a federal estate tax return, and an heir claims a higher basis on their individual tax return than what the estate declared.
• Compounding interest. Applied retroactively to both back taxes and penalties from the original tax filing due date.

Note on stacking: The IRS does not stack these three penalties on top of each other for the same pool of money; usually, the federal tax agency applies the single highest applicable rate (capped at 40% for a gross misstatement) plus the compounding interest.

Starting the conversation today

Discussing estate plans can feel daunting. The Kiplinger survey shows that talking about inheritance ranks among the most uncomfortable topics for both parents and heirs — more than politics and even end-of-life wishes.

But approaching the conversation thoughtfully today might help remove confusion during what will likely be an emotionally tumultuous time.

Here are a few steps to take now to ease the process of passing down an inherited home:

• Identify a certified appraiser. If your heirs plan to keep or rent the home, research reputable, state-certified appraisal firms in your area so your heirs have a trusted professional to call when the time comes.
• Organize household records. Maintain a designated folder with home improvement receipts, closing documents and property deeds. Remind heirs to keep records of appraisal fees and closing costs. These documents might help prove the home's tax basis (repairs generally do not add to the basis).
• Clarify the taxes. Many heirs incorrectly assume inheriting a house triggers an immediate, overwhelming tax bill. Explaining how the stepped-up basis works — and how you're setting them up to use it — can help them understand the financial picture more clearly.

By taking these small steps today, you do far more than shield your children from tax headaches and audit risks — you give them space to process their grief without the weight of financial uncertainty.

Estate planning is ultimately an act of care, and properly protecting your home’s value ensures your legacy remains the true gift you intended it to be.

This article does not cover state income tax and is for educational purposes only. The content does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Talk to a trusted tax professional when necessary.

Read More

• About 40% of Heirs Say They Can’t Afford an Inherited Home
• How Inheritance Actually Gets Taxed: From Stepped-Up Basis to IRA Rules
• States That Won't Tax Your Death

The "Great Wealth Transfer" is shifting trillions of dollars between generations, but for many families, it is sparking a silent crisis. Despite the high stakes, inheritance remains a taboo subject — often more difficult to discuss than even dating.

This silence carries a heavy price: It opens the door to misunderstandings that can fracture sibling relationships during times of grief. To protect your legacy and maintain family harmony, it is time to move beyond silence.

Proactive, collaborative planning is the key to preventing conflict. If you're unsure where to begin, here are actionable tips from experts to help keep your family on the same page.

1. Break the ice creatively

Talking about estate planning is weird, especially if you have other siblings. The last thing you want to contemplate is the loss of a loved one; adding financial logistics to the mix can make an already uncomfortable conversation feel even more daunting.

However, there are easy ways in. Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, licensed master social worker (LMSW), financial therapist and founder of Mind Money Balance, told Kiplinger, "Be creative when opening the door to that kind of conversation. One jumping-off point could be a friend dealing with a parent passing away and all the hoops they had to jump through to settle the estate."

"This can open the door to asking if everything is in place." Podvin also recommends this become a conversation you have with other siblings and parents multiple times. "Keep in mind that each person might remember things differently when you chat, so having multiple conversations ensures everyone is on the same page and concrete details are ironed out."

This checklist can help you get the talks started:

• Schedule a time to talk with all siblings and parents in a distraction-free environment
• Ask open-ended questions, like, "What is your vision for your legacy?"
• Discuss crucial details, such as payable-on-death beneficiaries, funeral arrangements and estate plans.
• Acknowledge the emotional weight — both yours and your parents'.
• Establish a regular check-in cadence to keep the conversation open.

Before beginning, knowing how generations view money can help you understand others' perspectives.

2. Understanding the generational disconnect

Maggie Baker, Ph.D., financial psychologist and author of Crazy About Money, told Kiplinger that she believes older generations used to think it was a taboo topic to discuss.

That generational divide becomes clearer in a Morning Consult survey commissioned by Kiplinger as part of our Trillion Dollar Talk campaign, which found that adult children would rather talk to their parents about almost anything besides inheritance, including politics, their parents' physical and mental health, and when they'd be getting married or having kids. The survey also found that parents plan to split the inheritance evenly, while kids prefer to split it differently.

Failing to discuss estate plans in concrete terms can create confusion later, especially when children are left to sort through documents and piece together their parents' wishes. What parents intend, and what they write down, can be difficult to parse.

An omission can be the focal point that drives division between siblings, where natural rivalries can already occur. That's why a change of approach can make all the difference when discussing inheritance. Instead of thinking of it merely in dollars and property, shift the focus to living legacy. What do you want your inheritance to communicate to your loved ones?

On this front, Baker recommends creating an ethical will. This ensures parents share their values about money with children so they can have trust and assurance.

Doing this can shift the focus away from talking about money only, which can be a taboo topic for older generations, and toward actionable strategies to ensure a living legacy they would be proud to bestow. Planning is vital now because when that day comes, grief can cloud clarity.

3. Prepare for the 'fog of grief'

Losing a loved one can be a surreal and extremely stressful experience. It impacts your physical, emotional, relational, spiritual and cognitive lives. It can make even simple things such as doing the laundry or cooking dinner seem like insurmountable tasks.

Another aspect that can add stress and sibling division, if not already planned, is end-of-life expenses. Podvin recommends, "Have a savings account earmarked for funeral expenses. Since it can take estates 12 to 18 months to settle, this prevents you or other siblings from going into debt to pay for the expense."

Here is my recommendation when searching for savings accounts:

Talk to your parents about designating one or more siblings as a payable-on-death (POD) beneficiary. Upon the loved one's death, the bank will release the funds to that beneficiary, who can use them to pay for funeral and other expenses as they arise without having to go through probate.

It's also important to take some time to heal. Grief can manifest itself in many forms, but so can comfort. One effective strategy is "body doubling" — asking a friend to accompany you on a walk or lunch. This simple presence can help you absorb their energy, reducing some of the stress and pain.

As you come together as siblings to make decisions, don't overlook this one component.

4. Address inequality and resentment directly

When you discover how your parents or older loved ones divided assets and cash, it could make one or more siblings feel overlooked. This is why it's important to share how you feel without attacking anyone else.

To demonstrate, if an aging parent falls ill, one sibling likely serves as a caretaker. One way to support someone who's already been stressed in that situation is for the other sibling(s) to acknowledge the caregiver's work.

Podvin recommends, "Make sure to give them a token of your appreciation. One way to do this could be paying for a trip so they can go away and relax after all the work they did or give them some money to help offset the work they missed while helping the loved one."

Regarding the difficulty of processing these feelings of missing out or anger, Baker suggests, "You should call on a financial therapist. Especially if you're hearing echoes from the grave. You can't resolve it because the person isn't there. With a therapist, they have an idea of how to stop the rumination."

Ultimately, direct communication between siblings and parents can help to eliminate many of the conflicts caused by inheritances. By finding creative ways in, ironing out concrete details in advance and sharing/acknowledging when one sibling has done more work than the other, it can reduce tensions from arising at a time when you should be coming together.

As parents, opening the door to this conversation also ensures you're leaving an inheritance that reflects your values and legacy.

If you expect to receive an inheritance, speaking with a financial adviser can help you make plans to maximize your wealth and achieve your financial goals while keeping in mind your relative's values, so you're not overwhelmed when you receive it.

Use the tool below to connect with a vetted financial professional who can help:

More Trillion Dollar Talk

• Manage an Inheritance Like a Pro in Just 7 Steps
• Keep, Sell, or Rent? What Happens Tax-Wise When You Inherit a House
• What Happens When You Inherit a House — With Your Siblings
• Why Leaving an Equal Inheritance to Your Children Could Backfire

Leaving an equal inheritance sounds fair and like the right thing to do. Just split everything down the middle, avoid playing favorites, and do what you have to do to keep the peace. Easy.

But "equal" doesn't necessarily mean "fair," and even your best intentions can lead to the opposite result: Resentment, tax surprises and shattered relationships after you're gone.

The decision becomes even more important when you consider that over the next two decades, Americans will pass down over $100 trillion in the so-called Great Wealth Transfer.

But when it comes to inheritance plans, a new Kiplinger-Morning Consult survey reveals a major gap in expectations and knowledge between older and younger generations in many families. Two in five families have never discussed inheritance plans, and three in 10 parents have no formal plans at all.

Should you leave an equal inheritance to your children? In most cases, the answer is yes, but it can be a double-edged sword, explains Ryan Skinner, president of Apex Retirement Services.

Should fairness be your first concern?

Skinner says the best starting point is to plan to divide the inheritance equally while keeping your options open. "Successful children should not be punished for succeeding, and children who have made poor decisions should not automatically be rewarded for failing."

Phil Reed, estate and asset protection attorney at Reed Law, agrees. "Inevitably, fairness is always the first concern. But fairness and equality are not the same thing, and having simplified math isn't always the best choice when determining the percentage of a distribution."

For instance, "When a child has served as a caregiver for the parent, the parents may want to compensate that child for the years that they were involved with their care and support. Alternatively, a child actively involved in the family business may be entitled to a higher percentage of the estate when other siblings were not involved."

When you have children with different needs and different involvements with the family, equal distribution tends to be inequitable, at least in the minds of the heirs, he says.

"The primary thing to keep in mind when deciding how to divide your estate is communicating the reasons for that decision and having those memorialized in your estate plan specifically."

All is fair in love

The Morning Consult-Kiplinger survey finds most adult children (70%) and parents (67%) feel ready to manage an inheritance. However, readiness isn't always the same as fairness.

For instance, it's common to give one child a down payment on a house or pay their college tuition. Maybe you covered a financial emergency for another child. Unfortunately, the child who received less during your lifetime might feel resentful, while the one who already benefited might not remember your help.

Without a change to your estate plan (sometimes called a hotchpot clause), the equal division can highlight any uneven splits.

Testate and intestacy statutes

Under United States law, a person who creates a valid will can divide their money and property in almost any way they choose. When someone dies without a will, state law distributes their estate based on family ties instead of splitting it equally.

When a will exists, the estate is testate, and the will controls how your property is divided. If you have no will, the estate is intestate, and the state's intestacy statute provides a formula that rarely leaves your kids with the same amount. The idea that siblings automatically get "equal" slices of the same pie is a myth that can cause lawsuits, hurt feelings and tax surprises.

Assets that can't be easily split

Leaving your family home "equally" to your children can lead to months or even years of unwanted maintenance, unpaid taxes and arguments, especially when they can't agree on selling, renting or keeping it.

One sibling often ends up doing all the work while the other siblings wait for the cash to roll in. "Thankfully," says Evan Mills, financial adviser at Scholar Advising, "there are different ways to set up entities so the kids no longer have to worry about who's going to pay for the new roof or the property taxes."

But if that structure isn't available for some families, he goes on to say, a house can become the main area of disagreement within the family, and that's not what you want, especially at what's already going to be an emotional time.

Likewise, a family business split equally among siblings who never worked there can complicate decision-making or force a sale, essentially eliminating the livelihood of the child who runs it.

Reed contends that life insurance proceeds and retirement accounts also look equal on paper but produce different tax results depending on the sibling's tax bracket and says that communication is the single most effective safeguard against discrepancies.

"Explain your reasoning while you're still alive. A letter of intent that accompanies your estate plan documents can reduce the 'Mom loved you more' narrative." Professional trustees, no-contest clauses and updated beneficiary designations on nonprobate assets further reduce the chance that the plan unravels in court," he says.

Sacrifices might go unrewarded

It's not uncommon for one child who becomes the default caregiver — living nearby for years, driving to appointments and managing medications — to feel they deserve a greater inheritance when compared with the sibling who only visited twice a year. This scenario can easily lead to bitterness and resentment.

In the same way, handing your big spender the same lump sum as your penny pincher can often hurt more than help.

Trusts with spendthrift provisions mainly exist because equal gifts can backfire.

Beyond the financial side, the emotional impact is also rarely clear-cut because inheritances are typically viewed as a substitute for parental love. Even wealthy children can experience an equal-but-unexplained estate plan as a form of rejection if their needs or circumstances differ.

When estate lawyer Marvin Blum asked Warren Buffett and the late Charlie Munger about inheritances at the 2022 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, Munger replied, "If you're going to treat them unequally, that is poison."

But a "split it equally" plan can cause many of the same problems: lawsuits, claims that Mom and Dad loved you more, or worse yet, siblings who argue and never speak again. Many estate lawyers say that when decisions are left unexplained, families fight, even if the split looks even on paper.

That said, more kids favor "fair" over equal than parents do, by a 21-percentage-point margin, according to the same Kiplinger-Morning Consult survey.

A better approach exists

Brian Gately, managing partner at Anchyra Partners, argues that a better approach exists.

"While the instinct to divide an estate into precise, equal percentages is understandable, rigid equality often fails to account for the unique realities of your children's lives, capabilities and callings."

He says that rather than viewing unequal divisions as favoritism, families should view estate planning as a customized toolkit designed to give each child the specific support they need to thrive.

"By using modern trust structures, you can ensure that your less financially inclined children are protected and your public-service-minded children are supported, all while preserving long-term family harmony."

Closing the inheritance expectation gap

The Kiplinger-Morning Consult survey revealed a stark disconnect: Parents are twice as likely to plan on leaving a meaningful inheritance as adult children are to expect one. Bridging that gap requires open communication and a big-picture view.

You'll need to weigh past financial support, individual sibling needs and the mix of liquid and illiquid assets. Rather than defaulting to an equal split, work with an estate-planning attorney to tailor a strategy that makes practical sense.

Ultimately, an inheritance isn't about picking a favorite child. It's about leaving a legacy that unites your family instead of dividing it.

More Trillion Dollar Talk

• The Trillion Dollar Talk
• We Asked 5,000 Americans About Inheritance. Here's What We Learned.
• What Happens When You Inherit a House — With Your Siblings

The Great Wealth Transfer is underway in the United States, with an estimated $124 trillion in assets expected to pass from older generations to younger ones over the next 20 years or so.

This massive wealth transfer has major implications for families. And according to a Morning Consult survey commissioned by Kiplinger, most heirs feel ready to manage the money they will receive.

Top of mind, according to those surveyed by Morning Consult, is providing for their family, while paying off a mortgage and improving a home come in second. Not far behind is investing their new windfall to grow their own wealth. But with a seemingly endless amount of assets available to invest in, how do you choose the right one for you?

Here, we attempt to narrow the field with our short quiz on how to invest your inheritance, or whether you even should. While this is no substitute for meeting with a financial adviser, which is the best way to figure out what is right for you, it's a good way to test your knowledge.

And don't worry if you miss a question or two. The articles we link to below give deeper insight into investing and portfolio management.

More on investing and inheritance from the Kiplinger team

• The Trillion Dollar Talk
• I'm 45 and I’ve Barely Invested in the Stock Market. I Recently Inherited $50,000. What Should I Do?
• 5 Core Stocks Every Investor Should Own in 2026 and Beyond
• The Asset Location Rule for Income Investments in Retirement
• Why ETFs Are One of the Easiest Ways to Start Investing
• 5 Best Index Funds for Long-Term Growth
• Which Capital Gains Are Taxable and How to Calculate Your Tax
• How Your Inheritance Actually Gets Taxed: From Stepped-Up Basis to IRA Rules
• Best Online Brokers and Trading Platforms for 2026

Right now, I'm watching three of my closest friends' families fall apart in slow motion.

The circumstances are different, but the arguments sound remarkably similar:

"Mom already gave him money for years."

"Dad told me something completely different."

"Why did she get more?"

"Who gets the house?"

"Was Dad even capable of making that decision?"

What I'm watching isn't unusual. Inheritance can bring out feelings that have been sitting there for years. In a 2025 Trust and Will survey, 38% of Americans who had shared their estate plans with family said those conversations led to disagreements.

Caregiving responsibilities among adult children aren't always shared equally, which further complicates inheritance decisions. One child lives 10 minutes away. The others live three states away. At first, she's helping Mom out. Then she's sitting through medical appointments, figuring out what the doctor said and what needs to happen next, managing medications and emergencies, handling bills and perhaps cutting back at work.

Business Insider (paywall) reports that daughters make up roughly 61% of family caregivers overall, and nearly 70% of those provide round-the-clock care. The financial toll even has a name: The "daughter tax."

It can mean reduced work hours, missed promotions, paused retirement contributions and more than $7,000 a year, on average, in out-of-pocket caregiving expenses, according to AARP. Over time, the hit from lost wages and retirement savings can approach $295,000.

Then Mom dies and the will says everything gets split equally.

The daughter is thinking, "I gave up years of my life and spent my own money taking care of Mom." Her siblings are thinking, "Mom said we split everything equally."

Was she supposed to be reimbursed? Compensated? Did Mom intend to leave her more?

Parents: Your money should take care of you

Before you start mentally dividing your assets among your kids, ask yourself: What if I need that money?

According to Kiplinger's Trillion Dollar Talk survey, conducted in partnership with Morning Consult, roughly two in five families have never discussed inheritance plans.

Of course, parents aren't obligated to tell their adult children how much they have or what they're going to inherit. But there's another conversation I think you really should have: What money will be used to fund my long-term care should it be needed?

What if you or your spouse require years of in-home care, assisted living or memory care? What if you need to retrofit the house so you can stay there? Which assets will pay for it, and who manages the money if you can't?

The inheritance your kids may have in their heads today could look very different after five or 10 years of care. And if you never talk about that possibility, you're setting everyone up for assumptions, surprises and, yes, conflicts.

My friend Beth Pinsker, CFP and MarketWatch columnist, wrote My Mother's Money: A Guide to Financial Caregiving after managing her own mother's finances and care. At one point, her mother's caregiving costs reached about $12,000 a month.

There may be much less inheritance after you pay for your own care. There may be none. That's ok. The inheritance is what remains after you take care of yourselves.

That's what I'd talk about with the kids: Here's how we intend to pay for our care. Here's who will handle the finances if we can't. Here's what we may need from you — and what we don't. That way, if the inheritance changes dramatically, nobody is left wondering what happened to Mom and Dad's money.

Equal isn't always fair

Parents often assume an equal split is safest. Two children? Fifty-fifty. Three? One third each.

But maybe you gave one child $100,000 toward a house. Was that simply a gift or an advance on an inheritance? Maybe another child has significant health or financial needs. Maybe one wants the family house while the others want cash.

If you decide on an unequal split, understand how it might be heard. "Sarah needs more help" can easily become, "Mom cares about Sarah more."

You don't need to disclose your net worth or give everyone a preview of the will. But if you're making a decision that could surprise one of your kids, tell them why.

Here are the steps I advise anyone in this situation to take:

1. Head off the big fight now

Keep your will, trust and beneficiary designations current. Be clear whether a substantial lifetime gift is simply a gift or something you expect to count against an inheritance.

If one child is spending significant money on your care, decide whether those expenses will be reimbursed.

Think carefully about whom you name as executor or trustee, especially if that person is also an heir. And ask who actually wants the house, jewelry, furniture or Dad's watch.

Don't assume you know. The point isn't to make everyone happy with every decision. It's to make your intentions clear while you can.

2. Bring in a neutral voice

This is also where a good fee-only financial adviser can do much more than manage investments. There are several qualified advisers in my Wealthramp network who are helping families navigate this situation.

The right adviser can model what several years of care could do to your finances, put numbers around different inheritance choices, look at whether one child can realistically afford to keep the family house, and help you think through these decisions without being emotionally involved in them.

Your adviser isn't your estate attorney. The adviser helps you work through the financial choices; the attorney makes sure those choices are properly documented. Ideally, they work together.

3. While you still can, talk about it

I keep coming back to my three friends. In these families, only one parent is still alive, and even then, it's too late for the conversation I'm talking about. The decisions have been made, and the lines have been drawn.

So to my friends who are parents with adult kids: Have these conversations now. Don't leave your kids to guess what you meant later.

And to my friends who are already in the middle of this, I hope you can find your way through it without losing each other in the process.

Related Content

• The Caregiver Penalty: What Women Need to Know Before Hitting Pause on Their Career
• Caregiving Is a Stealth Retirement Expense for Women: I Should Know
• How to Leave Different Amounts to Adult Children Without Causing a Rift
• The Three Biggest Fears Keeping Retirees Up at Night
• I Didn't Think I Needed an Estate Plan Until This Happened

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

When you think about the inheritance you'll pass to your heirs, you're likely thinking about your home, your savings and maybe a few treasured family heirlooms. You're probably not thinking about things such as your home insurance or car insurance.

But when it comes time to settle your estate, your insurance policies are just as important as everything else.

There are four common insurance-related problems executors face, said Evan Farr, certified elder law attorney and retirement planner practicing in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

"These include failing to recognize that a policy existed; out-of-date beneficiary designations; lapse of coverage because premiums were not paid on time; and ambiguity surrounding whose responsibility it is to collect proceeds (the estate or designated beneficiary)," Farr said.

To help prevent these problems, your executor needs to know about all of the insurance policies you have, even those you might not think are relevant.

How overlooked insurance policies cause headaches for your executor

Some of the most obvious issues that can come up involve life insurance. Nearly half of parents said life insurance is a key piece of the estate their children will inherit, according to a survey of more than 5,000 Americans Kiplinger conducted in partnership with Morning Consult.

But if your heirs don't know that life insurance policy exists, they might not know to file a claim. If the life insurance beneficiary you designated years or even decades ago is still listed on the policy, the benefits might not go where you now want them to go.

Since a life insurance payout can represent a significant part of the financial legacy you leave behind, it's essential that you make your policy easy to find and make sure your beneficiaries know it exists. Otherwise, a payout could be delayed while your loved ones try to locate the policy or determine who is entitled to the proceeds.

That communication could be especially important. A Morning Consult survey commissioned by Kiplinger as part of our Trillion Dollar Talk campaign found that among adult children who knew their parents had a will, estate-planning documents or a designated beneficiary, 35% didn't know how to access them. Making sure your executor and beneficiaries know where to find important insurance information can help close that gap.

Executors can also run into problems with home or car insurance. While an estate is being settled, the executor generally needs to make sure its assets remain appropriately insured. That can mean contacting insurers and determining what coverage needs to remain in place.

For example, if a fire, theft or other covered loss occurs while a home is part of an unsettled estate, problems could arise if coverage has lapsed or the insurer hasn't been notified of changes affecting the policy.

Your death can also change how an insurer handles an existing policy and who has authority to make changes or file a claim. Rather than assuming existing coverage will continue unchanged, your executor should contact the insurer to report the death and find out what documentation or changes are required.

With home insurance, in particular, your executor might also need to notify the insurer if the home becomes vacant or unoccupied for an extended period. Vacancy can affect coverage because an empty home can present different risks, including vandalism, theft and damage that goes unnoticed. Depending on the insurer and policy, different coverage or an endorsement might be necessary.

Similar issues can arise with any cars that are part of the estate. Your executor should contact the auto insurer before someone begins regularly driving an inherited vehicle or before coverage is canceled or changed.

Who is covered to drive the vehicle and how long existing coverage continues after the policyholder's death can depend on the policy and insurer. Giving your executor the information they need to contact the insurer and handle coverage appropriately can help protect both the vehicle and the estate.

How to make sure your executor can find your insurance policies

Whether you keep paper copies of all your policies or you've gone digital, the easiest way to keep track of your insurance is to create a single sheet listing every insurance policy you own.

"A consolidated inventory of all of your insurance policies is perhaps the single most valuable thing you can leave for your executor," Farr said. That inventory should include the following details for each policy:

• Name of the insurance company
• Policy number
• Your agent or broker's name and contact information if you have one
• What the policy insures. This can be a broad label such as home insurance, car insurance or term life insurance. You should also mention any riders or supplemental coverage here, too.
• Your current premium amount and how frequently you pay it (i.e., monthly, quarterly, annually).
• Where to find copies of the actual insurance policies. If you have them downloaded as PDFs, you can link to those files in the spreadsheet where you're keeping this inventory. If you access them via an online portal, note where your executor can find those login details. If you keep paper copies, note where that paperwork is stored.

You can keep all this information in a spreadsheet on your computer. Farr recommends updating it annually, as details such as premiums and coverage types change. If you switch your home or car insurance for a better deal; however, make sure to update the inventory right after you make the switch.

Writing out this inventory isn't enough on its own. The next step is to make sure your executor knows it exists and how to find it.

"Ideally this document would be made available to your executor via a secure digital storage system (like a password-protected cloud-based file share or an encrypted digital safe)," said Farr.

The key is to make sure you store your financial documents, including insurance policies, in a way that's accessible enough to the person who needs the document, but secure enough that no unauthorized person can get your detailed policy information.

Related content

• How to Organize Your Financial Paperwork for Your Heirs
• Avoid These 12 Common Estate Planning Mistakes
• How Much Life Insurance Do You Need?
• What to Do When You're the Executor of an Estate

It's been said, "You can't take it with you." Egypt's pharaohs might have agreed to disagree, but the baby boomer generation seems to understand this fact of life.

Financial experts have long expected that over the next two decades, baby boomers (and members of other older generations) will pass along more than 100 trillion to spouses, children and other heirs — a phenomenon dubbed the "Great Wealth Transfer."

We'll see what happens when those assets start landing in new accounts, but according to a Citizens Bank survey of 1,500 U.S. adults, the majority (60%) said they'd invest at least part of it.

In a new survey by Morning Consult, commissioned by Kiplinger for our Trillion Dollar Talk campaign, 15% of adult children said they'd use an inheritance to "invest and grow wealth," the third most popular response after providing for the family and investing in a home.

Why not? Many Americans are behind on their own retirement savings, and even those who are on track wouldn't complain about a cushier post-career lifestyle. Some in that number might already be thinking several decades down the road when it's time to repay the gesture by passing along wealth to their own spouses and children.

As one survey respondent told Morning Consult/Kiplinger, they'd put an inheritance from their parents "into investments," since "that's what pretty much helped them earn it in the first place."

Today, we'll look at five stocks for the task — each of which already boasts a place among the greatest wealth-generating equities of the past century. Data is as of August 28.

Most stock-market wealth creation has come from a few dozen companies

If you're looking to grow your wealth, there are few better places to start than with a 2026 study from Hendrik Bessembinder, a finance professor at Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business, who researched the investment outcomes from nearly 30,000 stocks over the 100 years from 1926 to 2025. In the report, he outlines the greatest wealth creators over that period.

What constitutes shareholder wealth creation (SWC)?

"The improvement (or decline) in the wealth of a company's shareholders in aggregate over the period that the company's shares were listed on the public stock markets, as compared to the outcome that would have been attained had the invested capital instead earned one-month Treasury bill returns. SWC considers net distributions (dividends, spinoffs, share repurchases, new share issuances, etc.)."

Our own Dan Burrows explains that "T-bills are a kind of stand-in for opportunity cost. And the difference [in performance] over time between the two investment choices, when positive, is wealth creation. It's the enhancement."

Bessembinder found that wealth creation within the stock market was highly concentrated among a handful of names. "Just 46 firms account for half of the $91 trillion in net wealth creation over the full century," he says.

That's where we'll start our search for stocks that you can use to build your own wealth, to the point at which you have something substantial to leave behind for your kids.

Each company mentioned here is among those 46 firms Bessembinder identifies and has certain characteristics and advantages that point toward their ability to continue generating returns well in excess of that T-bill benchmark.

Note: Lifetime wealth creation is measured starting at the initial stock-market listing or January 1926, whichever is more recent, through December 31, 2025.

Merck & Co.

• Sector: Healthcare
• Market value: $366.2 billion
• Lifetime wealth creation: $519.1 billion
• Percent of market total: 0.57%

Merck & Co. (MRK) is a healthcare-sector giant whose roots go all the way to 1668 with the founding of Germany's Merck Group, which created the American affiliate we know in 1891.

The company is responsible for blockbuster treatments and vaccines such as Gardasil (HPV), Januvia (type 2 diabetes), Zocor (high cholesterol) and most notably Keytruda (cancer fighter), which has generated nearly $180 billion in global sales since its debut in 2014. It also has developed a large animal healthcare business.

The formula for continued wealth creation in just about any pharmaceutical or biotechnology name is pretty straightforward: They need to discover and/or purchase successful treatments that are lucrative enough to offset any declines in their established drugs. But that's a particularly tall task for MRK given that Keytruda, which makes up roughly half of the company's revenue, will see its core patent expire in 2028.

How will Merck counter this? For one, it has compiled a promising developmental pipeline of treatments, including infinatamab deruxtecan (extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer), opevesostat (metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer) and tulisokibart (ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease).

But perhaps more important, it has built a "patent wall" of more than 1,200 patents across 53 countries, regions and territories, according to a report from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism:

"This investigation found 211 granted patents that help protect Keytruda through to at least 2042 — a full 14 years after the originals expire. There are also at least another 337 'pending' patents that, if granted, could also extend the drug's reign. The vast majority of the applications came after the drug's initial approval in 2014."

Now, Merck appears on the precipice of a breakthrough. In August, Merck and Moderna (MRNA) announced that their jointly developed experimental mRNA cancer vaccine met the primary goal of a Phase 3 clinical trial.

This large trial of more than 1,000 melanoma patients showed that a combination of the intismeran vaccine and Keytruda was more effective in preventing the return and spread of melanoma and resulted in fewer side effects than the use of Keytruda alone. It's another boon for Keytruda, as doctors sometimes will not recommend it because of the risk of side effects.

In addition to all the above, Merck pays a dividend that has grown for 16 consecutive years and currently yields an above-average 2.3%. It also throws billions of dollars at stock buybacks in most years.

Walmart

• Sector: Consumer staples
• Market value: $820.8 billion
• Lifetime wealth creation: $1.2 trillion
• Percent of market total: 1.32%

Why would we look to Walmart (WMT) to be a top-tier wealth creator given that it's a big-box retailer during the era of e-commerce?

For one, the death of brick-and-mortar retail has been heavily exaggerated. While e-commerce has been growing both nominally and as a percentage share of U.S. retail sales since its creation, brick-and-mortar still accounts for the vast majority (77%) of dollars spent. After a big leap in online buying adoption during COVID, e-commerce's penetration growth has moderated.

Walmart is also the second-largest online retailer in America. It's a distant second to Amazon (AMZN), but e-commerce accounts for roughly a quarter of Walmart's total U.S. sales, which still dwarf Amazon's domestic retail revenues.

Believe it or not, the sizable majority (62%) of its wealth creation since joining the public markets in 1972 has come since 2016.

Walmart is a retailer, so its ability to continue being a significant creator of wealth going forward largely rests on the power of the American consumer. Walmart is technically considered a consumer staples company given that it deals in groceries and personal products that have a certain level of backstop, but much of what it sells is discretionary in nature.

As for other shareholder rewards? WMT has a modest payout that's just below the S&P 500's yield, but it's a Dividend King that has grown its cash distribution for 53 consecutive years — and if that continues, shareholders should keep enjoying higher and rising yields on cost.

Walmart also repurchases gobs of its own stock, spending from $2 billion to nearly $10 billion on buybacks every year for the past decade.

Amazon.com

• Sector: Consumer discretionary
• Market value: $2.87 trillion
• Lifetime wealth creation: $2.3 trillion
• Percent of market total: 2.49%

We'll also look to No. 2 retailer (and No. 1 online retailer) Amazon.com (AMZN), which, at $2.3 trillion, is also the No. 5 wealth creator of the past 100 years.

But its future growth will depend on much more than its retail business.

Amazon also offers streaming services in the form of Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Music. It's an AI hyperscaler. It has an ad network. It provides supply chain services. It delivers digital and physical care options through One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy. It offers grocery delivery and has a private-label food brand.

As we point out in our argument for Amazon as a core stock holding, its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud provider arm is "the straw that stirs the drink." Amazon believes AWS alone could become a $1 trillion-a-year business.

The argument for AMZN to continue creating wealth in the long term is not just these divisions, but Amazon's ability and willingness to either build out or acquire its way to new lines of business (or drastically expand its existing businesses). In the past few years, for instance, Amazon has purchased autonomous driving technology firm Zoox, entertainment company MGM Studios, the aforementioned One Medical and satellite telecommunications firm Globalstar.

Despite its frequent spending, AMZN still sits on $122 billion in cash and short-term investments and a similar sum of long-term investments. It doesn't pay a dividend, and it infrequently repurchases stock. But as long as Amazon has no compunction about plowing money into growth, it could continue to expand the wealth you hope to eventually leave to your heirs.

Nvidia

• Sector: Technology
• Market value: $5.25 trillion
• Lifetime wealth creation: $4.6 trillion
• Percent of market total: 5.03%

Nvidia (NVDA) is the No. 2 wealth creator of the past 100 years, producing $4.6 trillion in excess of a Treasury-bill benchmark since the chipmaker went public in 1999.

Just about everyone reading this knows why this tech stock has done so well in recent years: its role in the expansion of artificial intelligence.

"We believe the NVDA shares have much further to go and believe that most technology investors should own NVDA in the age of AI and GPU-driven applications acceleration," says Argus Research analyst Jim Kelleher, who rates shares at Buy. "We recommend establishing or adding to positions in this preeminent vehicle for participation in the AI economy."

The unfettered growth of artificial intelligence isn't a slam dunk by any means. Public opinion has turned sharply negative on both AI and especially the data centers popping up to propel the technology. Among AI-related stocks, few are more tightly tethered to the technology than Nvidia.

But the reason to be optimistic about Nvidia is everything else the chipmaker is involved in: gaming; graphics; traditional data centers; cloud computing; autonomous vehicles; climate forecasting; genomic sequencing; and much, much more. As long as people need technology broadly, what Nvidia produces seems likely to be in demand.

Nvidia also has nearly $100 billion in cash and investments that it could put to work if needed, and it churns out tens of billions of dollars in free cash flow every year.

NVDA has stepped up stock repurchases drastically in the past couple of years, accelerating from nearly $2 billion in 2021 to $12 billion in 2023 and $48 billion in 2025. While its 25-cent-per-share dividend comes out to just half a percent in yield, that dividend is 25 times what it was a year ago, and Nvidia has a world of room to expand it further.

Apple

• Sector: Technology
• Market value: $4.5 trillion
• Lifetime wealth creation: $5.0 trillion
• Percent of market total: 5.52%

Last on our list but first among wealth creators of the past 100 years, Apple (AAPL) appears likely to continue delivering far better returns than we could get from T-bills.

Apple has been one of the greatest growth stocks of the past few decades because of its ability to create category-defining devices such as the iPod, iPad and iPhone.

But the reason we can likely count on Apple to continue doing so is that the company has historically never been a first mover. Instead, it takes emerging technologies and perfects them.

The Macintosh wasn't the first personal computer, but it popularized personal computing thanks to its all-in-one design, graphical interface and mouse. The iPod wasn't the first MP3 player, but its massive storage and simple user interface made it a hit. The iPhone came after the likes of the BlackBerry and Palm Treo, but it became a dominant smartphone, thanks to its touchscreen, web browsing and App Store.

Incredibly, the vast majority of Apple's wealth was created after the 2011 death of Steve Jobs. His replacement, Tim Cook, was less a product innovator and more of an operations and supply chain specialist who also understood the potential of services. Cook himself stepped down in September 2026, and was replaced by John Ternus, who helped oversee the development of the iPad, AirPods and Apple Watch, among other projects — but Cook will retain an important role with the company.

"Mr. Ternus, a 25-year Apple executive that joined Apple three years after Mr. Cook, has been an important part of Apple product launches for over two decades, and promoting him to CEO clearly shows Apple's emphasis on product at the center of the flywheel will remain," says Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring (Overweight, equivalent of Buy). "Tim Cook remaining Executive Chairman and 'engaging with policymakers around the world' shows Tim will remain a critical conduit between Apple and political leaders around the world, a role Mr. Cook has excelled at."

From a financial standpoint, Apple boasts many of the same advantages as the other wealth-building stocks on this list. It has $62 billion in cash and short-term investments and an additional $84 billion in long-term investments that it can use for transformational acquisitions.

It's also a cash-flow machine that has been repurchasing $80 billion and $100 billion in AAPL shares every year since 2021. The dividend has also grown every year since 2012.

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It's been billed as the greatest financial windfall in history, a tidal wave of wealth washing from the richest generation ever onto their heirs. But the reality is far more complicated.

Aptly named the great wealth transfer, it's the handoff that research firm Cerulli Associates projects will total $124 trillion through 2048, with $105 trillion flowing to heirs and $18 trillion donated to charity. That wealth is flowing from the aging silent generation and baby boomers down to their children and grandchildren.

Once you account for a few other factors, though, "great" may be better described as "just OK." Visa Business and Economic Insights argues the spendable transfer is actually closer to $36 trillion from boomers over 20 years, once you deduct things such as debt, taxes and retirement spending.

Whatever the true figure turns out to be, the $60-trillion-plus gap between the two estimates shows how slippery this forecast really is. And it points to a bigger truth: Not everyone stands to catch the same share of this falling wealth.

Here's a sharper picture of who actually benefits — or doesn't — and how your own situation compares.

To those who already have much, much will be given

If you come from a wealthy family, chances are you'll be among the biggest beneficiaries of the Great Wealth Transfer. Cerulli estimates that households worth $10 million or more — about 2% of all households — account for roughly half the entire transfer.

The averages reflect that skew. While the average U.S. inheritance is about $46,200, according to Federal Reserve data, the median is far lower, because a handful of enormous transfers pull the average up. The bottom half of recipients average around $9,700; the top 1% average about $719,000.

Ultimately, most people get nothing at all, as only about one in three Americans ever receives an inheritance. So, if you're not expecting one, then — congrats, I guess? — you're in the majority.

Millennials stand to get a greater share, but may have to wait

If you came of age watching Dawson's Creek or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there's a good chance you're set for a larger slice of the transfer.

That's because Cerulli's research projects that millennials will inherit the most of any generation over 25 years — around $46 trillion. But it's those who grew up with MTV, Gen X, that will inherit the most in the next 10 years, with $14 trillion versus millennials' $8 trillion.

Those hoping for a windfall to cover a home down payment or help start a family may have to wait. Federal Reserve analysis finds inheritance receipt peaks around age 60 — a natural result of a typical lifespan near 80 and a roughly 20-year gap between parent and child.

However, the growing recognition that heirs often get the money when they least need it is nudging some families to pass wealth on sooner. More than four-in-five parents (82%) said they have given their adult children financial help since age 18, according to a new survey by Morning Consult commissioned by Kiplinger for our Trillion Dollar Talk campaign.

Popularized by figures like Bill Perkins, author of Die With Zero, the idea is to help while children still need it, rather than when they're nearing retirement themselves.

The transfer won't touch the racial wealth gap

If any single factor sorts the winners from everyone else, it's this one. As with nearly every measure of pay and net worth, there's a stark racial disparity here.

White households are about 2.8 times more likely than Black households to receive any inheritance at all. And when they do, they inherit roughly 5.3 times as much as Black households and 6.4 times as much as Hispanic households, according to Penn Wharton estimates. Around a third of white families ever inherit, versus roughly one in 10 Black families, according to a 2023 study by the Boston Fed.

The gap holds even among those expecting something. An Urban Institute analysis finds the median Black renter who anticipates an inheritance estimates it at about $48,000, compared with $200,000 for the median white renter.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston study found that lifetime earnings and pension assets — not bequests — explain most of the racial wealth gap, which is a big reason the coming transfer is unlikely to close it.

Women benefit from the transfer before the transfer

When it comes to which sex comes out ahead, it's women who are positioned to receive more than men. But there's a key caveat.

The first handoff is often horizontal, not generational. Cerulli projects that some $54 trillion will move between spouses before it ever reaches a younger generation, with nearly $40 trillion of that going to widowed women in the boomer and older cohorts, who tend to outlive their husbands.

For many women, then, the wealth transfer is less a true inheritance than a stretch of sole control over a shared nest egg, frequently while absorbing the very late-life costs that shrink what's left to pass on.

Not all the wealth is inheritable, or at least, easily inheritable

An important distinction rarely makes the headlines: Not everything older generations have accumulated can actually be passed down.

A traditional defined-benefit pension typically pays income for life and then stops at death, or continues at a reduced rate to a surviving spouse. It generally leaves no lump sum for the kids. A 401(k) or IRA, by contrast, is an asset heirs can inherit outright.

As a result, two retirees with identical incomes can leave very different estates. The one living comfortably on a generous pension may pass on little, while the one who saved that same income in a 401(k) leaves behind a balance. Through 1980, nearly 40% of Americans had a traditional pension. The long shift toward 401(k)s and IRAs since then has, paradoxically, made retirement wealth more inheritable.

Parents on the older edge of the boomer cohort or in the silent generation more often spent full careers under traditional pensions that leave nothing behind, while those on the younger edge came up saving in 401(k)s. So, whether there's a balance to inherit at all can hinge partly on where your parents fall within their own generation.

A large share of boomer wealth isn't liquid, either. It's home equity. Realtor.com found boomers hold about $19 trillion in real estate, and for many families the house is the single biggest asset. Unlike a brokerage account, which heirs can sell and split in a day, a house is a single, illiquid asset that usually can't be divided without selling it.

Some states will tax you more

Where you and your parents live shapes what heirs keep. Thirty-three states levy no estate or inheritance tax at all. Twelve states plus Washington, D.C., impose an estate tax (paid by the estate), and a handful — Kentucky, Nebraska, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, which has both — levy an inheritance tax (paid by the person who receives the money).

The catch is the exemption. The federal estate-tax exemption sits at a lofty $15 million per person in 2026, but several states start far lower — $1 million in Oregon, $2 million in Massachusetts — low enough that an ordinary home plus retirement savings can trigger a bill. It's part of why Florida, Texas and Nevada, which levy neither tax, are such popular landing spots for retirees.

To the original savers may go the spoils

Ultimately, the ones who benefit most from all this wealth just might be the ones who saved and invested it in the first place.

Many boomers intend to spend it themselves. In a Charles Schwab survey of affluent boomers, 45% said they'd rather enjoy their money while they're alive than preserve it as an inheritance.

Longevity is the main driver, with healthcare acting as much the culprit as hedonism. Fidelity estimates the average 65-year-old will spend about $185,000 on healthcare in retirement before long-term care even enters the picture. Money once earmarked for the kids becomes money spent on aging.

And boomers are increasingly aging in place. One survey even found 68% live in homes at least three decades old, many overdue for renovation, and most in no rush to downsize. That points to wealth that's more likely to be used up than passed on — put toward renovations or drained by late-life care.

Whether you're a clear winner or loser or something in between, it might be best to treat any inheritance as a bonus rather than a foundation. And have the awkward family conversation, because nearly 30% of American parents have no formal estate plan, including a will, the Kiplinger/Morning Consult survey found. In the end, the winners won't necessarily be the ones who receive the most. They'll be the ones who planned ahead.

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A family vacation home isn't just an asset on a balance sheet. It's where holidays happen, where grandchildren learn to fish or ski, and where family traditions and values get passed down almost as much as the property itself.

That is exactly why a vacation home deserves its own planning conversation — one that is fully integrated into the rest of your estate plan. Without a plan, a home that was meant to bring a family together can end up doing the opposite.

Why a vacation home is different from other assets

A primary residence often has a relatively straightforward path: It's sold or one person inherits. A vacation home can be more complicated because several family members may expect to share it. And "sharing" a single piece of property among siblings, cousins or in-laws is rarely simple once the original owners are gone.

A few things make vacation homes uniquely tricky to plan for:

• Shared but unequal use. One sibling may visit every summer; another may live across the country and rarely use it. Yet costs and decisions are often expected to be split evenly.
• Ongoing expenses. Property taxes, insurance, maintenance and repairs don't pause when the owners pass away, and often the children were not aware of how much it cost to maintain the property. Someone has to keep paying, and disagreements over who pays what — and how much — can quickly become a source of family conflict. Sharing actual numbers related to expenses is essential to helping the next generation make sound decisions.
• Out-of-state or out-of-country property. A vacation home located in a different state or country from the owner's primary residence can create additional estate administration, probate or tax considerations, depending on the jurisdiction and how the property is owned.
• Sentimental value vs financial value. Family members don't always agree on whether the goal should be to keep the property in the family at almost any cost or to treat it as another asset that can be divided or sold.

What can go wrong without a plan

Families that don't address the vacation home specifically tend to run into the same handful of issues:

• Co-owners disagree about selling, renting or remodeling, with no mechanism to break a tie
• One branch of the family uses the property heavily while another resents paying a portion of the upkeep
• Ownership becomes diluted over generations as the property passes to more heirs, each owning a smaller fractional share, until decision-making becomes unworkable
• One child is left managing the property and bearing the costs, without authority to make important decisions or sell the home if necessary

The common thread is that simply deciding who gets the house isn't enough. A good plan also needs to address how the house will be owned, used, paid for and, eventually, sold or transferred.

Planning tools families can consider

There is no single "right" answer. The appropriate structure depends on your family's goals, the number of heirs involved and how long you hope to keep the property in the family. That said, a few tools come up often in this kind of planning:

• A trust. Placing the property in a revocable living trust can help it pass to heirs without going through probate and allows the original owners to set clear terms for how the property should be used, maintained or eventually sold.
• An LLC or family entity. Some families place the vacation home into a limited liability company or family limited partnership, with each heir holding a membership share rather than a direct deed interest. A manager can be appointed with primary decision-making authority. This can make it easier to set rules around usage and buyouts, and can simplify what happens if one heir later wants to sell their share.
• A co-ownership or usage agreement. Whether or not a trust or LLC is used, a written agreement spelling out how the home will be used and paid for is one of the most practical tools available. It can address a usage schedule, how expenses are split, what happens if someone wants out and who has final say on big decisions, such as major repairs or a sale.
• Gifting strategies. Depending on the value of the property and the family's broader estate plan, gifting an interest in the home during the owners' lifetime may be worth considering. For some families with significant estate tax exposure, more specialized strategies, such as a qualified personal residence trust (QPRT), may also be appropriate. These strategies can have meaningful estate, gift and income tax consequences, so they should be evaluated with your financial adviser, tax professional and estate planning attorney.
• An honest conversation about selling. Not every family will decide to keep the vacation home. Sometimes the most practical plan is to sell the property and divide the proceeds, especially if heirs live far away, have different financial situations, have challenging relationships with each other or simply don't have the same attachment to the property as the original owners.

Before deciding on your approach, there is a more basic question to answer: Does the next generation actually want the house?

Parents sometimes spend considerable time and money creating a structure designed to keep a vacation home in the family without first asking whether their children even want to own it together. One child may treasure the idea while another would prefer to receive other assets. Knowing your children’s preferences in advance can shape the entire plan.

Planning is more than paperwork

Legal documents matter, but they aren't the whole solution. Some of the most effective planning and conversations happen around the kitchen table, not in an attorney's office.

• Talk to the next generation before drafting anything. Find out who actually wants to keep the property. Some heirs may prefer receiving a like amount of assets instead of a portion of the family home.
• Put usage and expense expectations in writing. Even within a formal ownership structure, clear expectations give family members something concrete to point back to when questions arise. Some families even use an app or shared calendar to reserve times and track usage.
• Name a decision-maker or manager. Whether it is one heir, a rotating role or an outside property manager, someone should have clear authority to handle day-to-day issues.
• Revisit the plan periodically. Family circumstances change. Children marry, move or have children of their own, financial situations evolve and the property itself may become more expensive to maintain. A plan that made sense 10 years ago may not fit the family today.

The takeaway

A vacation home can carry sentimental meaning that a typical asset does not, which is exactly why it deserves a deliberate plan rather than an assumption that "the kids will work it out."

The right legal structure — whether a trust, an LLC, a usage agreement or some combination — depends on the family's specific goals. What matters most is starting the conversation early.

Begin by talking with the people who may eventually inherit the home. Ask whether they want it, how they envision using it and whether they're prepared to share the tangible responsibilities and realistic costs that come with ownership.

From there, you can build a plan around what the family actually wants rather than what you assume it will want. That conversation may ultimately do as much to preserve the family vacation home — and the relationships surrounding it — as any legal document.

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This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

Inheriting an investment portfolio can feel like receiving a windfall. The tricky part is that the dollar value you see on the account statement isn't necessarily the amount you'll get to keep.

"A million dollars of inherited assets is not necessarily a million dollars of equivalent economic value," says David Simkowitz, founder and CEO of SimkowitzCo. "The type of account, tax basis, embedded tax liability and future income taxation all matter."

Taxes can take a bite out of sale proceeds. Inherited retirement accounts might come with distribution requirements that incur penalties if they're missed. The investments themselves could carry high fees or risks that don't make sense for your situation. Sorting it all out might require paying for tax, legal or financial advice.

Understanding these hidden costs of inheriting an investment portfolio before you start making changes can go a long way toward preserving more of the wealth you've received.

The tax bill might come later

Inheriting property generally isn't a taxable event, but that doesn't mean it's tax-free forever.

"For most individuals, it's not the inheritance that triggers a tax bill but the sale or distribution" of the assets you inherited, says Erin Wood, senior vice president of advanced planning at AssetMark.

There's plenty of confusion around that distinction. A 2026 Morning Consult survey commissioned by Kiplinger found that one-third of adult children are unsure if they'd owe taxes on an inheritance.

The actual tax consequences will depend on what you inherited and the type of account it was held in. Many taxable investments receive a step-up in cost basis to the fair market value on the date of death. The cost basis is the starting value the IRS uses to determine your gain or loss when you sell an asset.

With a stepped-up basis, "any unrealized capital gains accumulated during the decedent's lifetime are generally wiped away," says Tara Thompson Popernik, executive vice president of wealth planning at LPL Financial.

But make sure the correct basis is reflected in your brokerage account records before you sell. Popernik recalls one beneficiary who failed to correct the cost properly before selling and received a tax form reflecting significant gains that required help from a CPA to correct.

Income-producing investments can create other surprises. For example, interest earned on taxable bonds you inherit is generally taxable income. If you previously only earned W-2 income, you "may now need to make estimated tax payments to cover the earnings from an inherited portfolio," Popernik says.

Other assets present their own tax wrinkles. Wood points to non-qualified annuities, where accumulated income may pass directly to the beneficiary rather than disappearing through a stepped-up basis. She also notes that state inheritance taxes can apply.

Retirement accounts can carry costly deadlines

Inherited retirement accounts are a different animal entirely. Traditional IRAs, for example, can contain money that hasn't yet been taxed. Many nonspouse beneficiaries are required to fully distribute an inherited IRA within 10 years of inheriting. Along the way, required minimum distributions (RMDs) might also apply.

"Missing an RMD on an inherited IRA is sometimes the biggest surprise, particularly because of the associated penalty," says Justyn Volesko, partner and co-head of the Cerity Partners Family Office.

You could face a 25% excise tax on the amount that should have been withdrawn, although that can drop to 10% if the shortfall is corrected promptly enough.

The moral of the story isn't that you should race to empty all inherited retirement accounts. Rather, you want to be aware of which rules and deadlines apply so you can act accordingly.

Fees and professional costs can add up

Unfortunately, taxes and penalties aren't the only expenses that can quietly eat into your inheritance. The investments themselves may also be expensive.

"I have seen inherited portfolios in mutual funds with high expense ratios that are easy to miss," Volesko says. The adviser managing the portfolio might also be charging a fee.

Then there are the costs of sorting out the inheritance itself. You could end up paying for legal or tax advice, investment management or even estate valuation work. Those bills can sting, but trying to avoid every professional fee can also backfire.

"I would distinguish between a professional cost and a professional value," Simkowitz says. "Paying for coordinated tax, legal and financial advice can sometimes prevent a beneficiary from making a much more expensive mistake."

Make sure the professionals you work with aren't operating in isolation. "An inheritance should be treated as a coordinated planning event, not simply an asset-transfer event," Simkowitz says.

Doing nothing can cost you, too

This last hidden cost might be the sneakiest of all: The cost of holding onto a portfolio designed for someone else.

There can be an inclination to keep an inherited portfolio intact to honor the person who bequeathed it to you, "but keeping a portfolio unchanged is itself an investment decision," Simkowitz says.

The person you're inheriting from may have had a different timeline, risk tolerance or financial goals. "A portfolio designed for an older investor who prioritized income may not be appropriate for a younger beneficiary focused on long-term growth," Popernik says.

The portfolio might also have concentrated stock positions, especially if your benefactor spent decades building a business or accumulating shares of a single company. "What represented wealth creation for one generation can represent unnecessary concentration risk for the next," Simkowitz says.

This doesn't mean you need to sell Grandma's favorite stock on day one, but each holding should be evaluated based on its own merits.

"I would encourage beneficiaries not to ask only, 'What did I inherit?' but also, 'Why do I still own it?' " Simkowitz says.

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What happens to the money in your savings accounts when you pass on? Making sure those funds go where you intend is an important part of estate planning, yet savings accounts can be easy to overlook.

Without the right designations, your savings could end up going through probate, potentially delaying when your heirs can access the money. That could leave your family paying out of pocket for expenses you intended those savings to cover, such as final expenses.

A new survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of Kiplinger found that just 36% of parents have designated beneficiaries on retirement accounts or life insurance policies, highlighting how easy this relatively simple estate-planning step can be to overlook.

Here's how to avoid these common pitfalls, streamline the transfer and protect your financial legacy.

What happens if you don't name a beneficiary?

If you die without naming a beneficiary on an individually owned savings account, the money might become part of your estate and have to go through probate. Once the bank learns of your death, it could restrict access to the account until the person legally authorized to handle your estate can take control of the funds.

Who ultimately inherits the money will depend on your estate plan and state law. If you have a will, the funds generally become part of the estate distributed according to its terms. If you die without a will, known as dying intestate, state law determines which relatives inherit your assets.

Read more: Probate: The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Side of Estate Planning

If you already have a trust as part of your estate plan, naming the trust as the beneficiary might be one option. Danny Beckwith, a certified financial planner and financial adviser at First Financial Consulting, told Kiplinger, "Name the trust as your beneficiary. It will make it a lot easier to work with the banks."

Even if you've already named beneficiaries, it's important to review your designations periodically, particularly after major life changes such as a marriage, divorce, birth or death. Beckwith suggests reviewing beneficiaries every other year.

"You wouldn't believe how many mistakes happen, and by clarifying, you're providing peace of mind that your legacy will go on as you intended," he says.

But you don't necessarily need a trust to help your savings account avoid probate. Another option is to name a payable-on-death beneficiary.

How to designate someone as a payable-on-death beneficiary

Another option is to add a payable-on-death (POD) beneficiary to your savings account. After you die, the funds generally pass directly to the named beneficiary without going through probate.

The beneficiary will need to contact the bank and provide the documentation it requires, typically including identification and a certified copy of the death certificate.

To add a POD beneficiary to your savings account:

• Contact your bank and ask how to add a payable-on-death beneficiary.
• Provide the beneficiary information the bank requires, which might include their full legal name, date of birth, address and Social Security number.
• If you're naming multiple beneficiaries, specify how you want the funds divided among them, often using percentages.
• Complete and submit the required paperwork. Depending on the bank, some documents might need to be notarized.

Keep in mind that avoiding probate doesn't necessarily eliminate potential tax considerations. Depending on where you live and the size of your estate, state estate or inheritance taxes could still apply.

What your family should know

The most helpful gift you can leave your heirs is clarity. Beckwith recommends, "I am a huge fan of parents letting their children know where everything is and what they will receive. Where we see the biggest problems is that the kids don't know what they're inheriting; it can be daunting to find where everything is."

Clear communication ensures your legacy reflects your values while also preventing sibling conflicts. Yet many families aren't having those conversations. The Trillion Dollar Talk survey found that two in five families have never discussed inheritance.

While you don't have to discuss exact dollar amounts, giving heirs a window into what they're receiving can help them plan now, so they don't have to contend with that when the time comes.

It also prevents them from having to hunt for accounts or legal documents they'll need during an already stressful time. Knowing where to turn can give them peace of mind while honoring your legacy.

A checklist for heirs

Create a document that serves as the roadmap for your beneficiaries. Keep this document in an accessible location known to your heirs and include these essentials:

• A list of all financial institutions where you hold accounts.
• Specific account numbers and the type of each account (e.g., savings, checking, brokerage).
• Updated contact information for your financial planners, advisers, or attorneys who can assist with the transfer.

Ultimately, you’ve worked hard to build your savings, and a little planning now can make things easier for your loved ones later.

Contact your bank to review your beneficiary designations and make sure they still reflect your wishes. It’s also a good time to create or update a roadmap showing your heirs where your accounts and other important financial information can be found.

Taking these steps now can help ensure your money goes where you intend and give your family one less thing to sort out during an already difficult time.

If you're an heir trying to make sense of an inheritance, or you want help preparing your own finances for the next generation, a financial adviser can help you understand your options and build a plan that fits your goals.

Use the tool below to connect with a vetted financial professional who can help:

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Dear Wealth Wise: How can I put my RMDs and cash savings back to work so I can leave a tax-free inheritance for my adult kids? — None For Uncle Sam

Dear None for Uncle Sam: In the coming years, the Great Wealth Transfer is expected to produce trillions of dollars in inheritance. But that doesn’t mean all wealth holders are planning for that transition mindfully.

Here, our reader wants to know how they can leave their children an inheritance the IRS won’t take a piece of. While leaving a 100% tax-free inheritance might be challenging, people in this situation can still use several strategies. Here’s what the experts suggest.

Do a Roth conversion

If you have the bulk of your assets in a traditional IRA, passing that account to your heirs could put them in a tricky spot.

As Eric Croak, CFP and president of Croak Capital, explains, when you have grown children who inherit a traditional IRA, they only get 10 years to empty the account. But adult children often end up withdrawing those funds during their peak earning years, subjecting themselves to high tax rates.

"This seems like an unappealing tax consequence, especially during their highest earning years as the 32% tax bracket begins at $201,775 for a single filer," Croak says.

That’s why Croak recommends Roth conversions, which you can do even if you’re already on the hook for required minimum distributions (RMDs). If your children inherit a Roth IRA, they’ll still be subject to the 10-year rule. But there are a few key differences.

First, says Croak, "no distributions are mandatory during those 10 years," whereas with a traditional IRA, your adult children generally must take RMDs annually if you, the account holder, are old enough to be subject to them.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of inheriting a Roth IRA is receiving all distributions tax-free, Croak explains.

If you’re going to do a Roth conversion, it’s important to get your timing right, Croak says.

"First, take the RMD for the year since an RMD itself cannot be converted," he explains. "Then convert additional amounts of pre-tax savings and pay taxes now."

Use your RMDs to buy permanent life insurance

If you’re on the hook for RMDs, Croak says another option is to use that money to purchase a permanent life insurance policy on which your adult children are designated as beneficiaries.

"The RMD will be subject to tax when distributed as always, but the after-tax dollars can purchase a death benefit that will be generally income-tax-free to the beneficiary," Croak explains.

However, he cautions, this strategy "makes sense only if you are insurable at a reasonable cost."

Lean on a taxable brokerage account

It’s common for retirees to favor tax-advantaged accounts such as IRAs in the course of building and holding their wealth. But if you’re focused on leaving an inheritance, Croak says, then it pays to lean on a taxable brokerage account in addition to or instead of a permanent life policy. As you take your RMDs, reinvest them strategically.

"Any cash beyond the premiums should reside in a brokerage account rather than a savings account since appreciated stock can receive a stepped-up basis at death, while the interest income on cash would be subject to tax at your highest marginal tax rate," Croak says.

Consider cash gifts

If you'd like to start gifting while you're alive, one simple option is an annual gift. The annual gift tax exclusion in 2026 is $19,000 per recipient (couples can double this to $38,000 per recipient).

Before you give your kids the money while you are still alive, ask yourself three key questions: Do they really need the money now? Can you afford it? Will this be a gift to one child or all your heirs?

Be strategic with who inherits which accounts

Leaving a Roth IRA as an inheritance is a true gift. But if your balance is large, doing a full Roth conversion might not make sense from a tax perspective.

In the course of sparing your kids a tax bill, you don’t want to drive yourself into an unreasonably high tax bracket. Large Roth conversions could also push you into IRMAA territory, resulting in exorbitant Medicare premium costs.

Given all that, Will Allen, founder and financial adviser at Sentara Capital, says that your tax bracket coupled with your children’s tax brackets should drive a lot of the math.

"A $600,000 IRA drained over 10 years on top of a 55-year-old's salary can come out at 32% plus state tax," Allen says. "Converting at 24% now to avoid that is a wise move."

That said, if you’re expecting to pass away relatively soon and your children, based on their incomes, might not creep into higher tax brackets for quite some time, a Roth conversion might not make sense at all. If your children can empty a traditional IRA in 10 years and do so at a 12% or 22% tax rate, it doesn’t pay for you to convert at 24%.

You’ll need to look at the math from every angle before making Roth conversions a core part of your inheritance strategy. If you only do a partial conversion, Allen says, "Split the beneficiary designations by bracket instead of leaving everything equally. Roth and taxable to the high earner, traditional IRA to the lowest earner."

Know which accounts not to leave

If your goal is to leave a tax-free inheritance, there’s one account you should steer clear of — a health savings account, or HSA, says Jordan Smyth, CFA, president and senior wealth adviser at Glassy Mountain Advisors.

Although HSAs are often touted for their triple tax advantage, that benefit effectively disappears when an adult child inherits one.

"Don’t leave an HSA to your children," Smyth says. "The inherited balance would be taxable to any non-spouse heir in the first year. Spend that money, and leave them a Roth IRA instead."

State taxes and capital gains could still apply

These are tried-and-true ways to avoid income tax. However, state inheritance taxes or federal estate taxes could apply, depending on the estate's size and the state in which you live.

Not all questions submitted will be published, and some may be condensed and/or combined with other similar questions and answers, as required editorially. The answers provided by our writers and experts, in this advice column, are for general informational purposes only. While we take reasonable precautions to ensure we provide accurate answers to your questions, this information does not and is not intended to constitute independent financial, legal, or tax advice. You should not act, or refrain from acting, based on any information provided in this feature. You should consult with a financial adviser regarding any questions you may have in relation to the matters discussed in this article.

Read More

• We Asked 5,000 Americans About Inheritance and the Great Wealth Transfer. Here's What We Learned
• How to Talk to Your Adult Kids About Their Inheritance
• Why So Many Families Are Unprepared for the Great Wealth Transfer — and What You Can Do About It
• Should We Bankroll Our Son's $180K Law School Tuition Even Though We're Retired?
• 'Subsidized Adulting': Can You Afford to Help Your Children Financially?

As an estate planning and elder law attorney for more than three decades, I can tell you that many people believe they've protected their assets by signing a revocable living trust.

They haven't.

Every year, I meet intelligent, financially successful families who have done almost everything right. They've accumulated retirement savings, worked with financial advisers, signed comprehensive estate planning documents and funded a revocable living trust.

Then one spouse develops Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease or another chronic illness requiring years of home care, assisted living, memory care and eventually nursing-home care.

That's when they discover that their perfectly drafted trust is of no help, because it was designed to solve a different problem.

The ultimate question is not whether you have a trust. It's whether you have the right trust for the problem you need to solve.

A revocable living trust (often abbreviated as an RLT) is one of the best estate planning tools available. Unlike a will, an RLT trust protects your assets from probate and provides many other benefits, making it one of the most popular estate planning tools in the country.

But an RLT does not protect your assets from lawsuits or the potentially catastrophic expenses of long-term care.

Why doesn't an RLT protect assets?

The answer is simple.

An RLT works because you effectively remain the owner of all trust assets, and you retain complete control of those assets, including the ability to remove any or all assets from the trust at any time.

Because the assets remain yours, they remain available to pay any bills you owe, including long-term care bills. The assets in your RLT are treated as if they still belong to you and remain available to creditors, including the biggest creditor most people face in their lifetimes — a nursing home.

People often spend thousands creating and funding an RLT believing they've solved both the probate and the long-term care problem, when they've solved only the probate problem.

Unfortunately, many estate planning attorneys never explain this distinction because most don't practice in the area of Medicaid planning. They never discuss the irrevocable Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT) as an option.

As a result, many families discover the difference only after a health crisis, when planning options are limited.

What an RLT does well

None of this diminishes the value of an RLT.

I regularly recommend revocable living trusts to clients. My firm has prepared thousands of revocable living trusts.

A properly drafted and funded revocable living trust:

• Avoids probate
• Provides continuity if you become incapacitated
• Controls how and when beneficiaries receive an inheritance
• Keeps your affairs more private than a probate estate
• Can protect young or financially inexperienced beneficiaries from receiving large distributions outright
• Can provide ongoing asset protection to trust beneficiaries through the creation of spendthrift trusts, sometimes called dynasty trusts or beneficiary asset protection subtrusts

These are all important benefits. But none of them matter if you die broke because you spent all your money paying for long-term care.

As good as the revocable living trust is, in the past 15 years, my firm has prepared more MAPTs than revocable living trusts because once older clients understand the distinction, many choose a trust that not only avoids probate but also helps protect assets from long-term care costs.

We call our version the Living Trust Plus®. It's a proprietary MAPT system that we license to attorneys throughout the country to offer this type of planning to their own clients.

But most estate planning attorneys don't offer this type of trust planning. Helping clients protect their assets from long-term care costs is not on the radar of many estate planning attorneys.

Medicare won't pay the bill

Another common misconception is that Medicare will pay for long-term care. It won't.

Medicare doesn't pay a penny for long-term care. Families must rely on their own income and assets, long-term care insurance, certain veterans benefits or Medicaid, which is the biggest payor of nursing home expenses in the country.

What makes a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust different?

A MAPT is designed to solve not only the probate issue, but two additional problems. I call my version of the MAPT the Living Trust Plus because it protects your assets from probate plus lawsuits plus long-term care expenses.

Instead of retaining ownership of trust assets, you give up ownership and the ability to reclaim the protected assets. That creates the protection.

However, despite giving up ownership, you can retain a high degree of control of assets in the trust.

You can be the trustee of your own trust, meaning you can control how the assets are invested, whether your home gets sold and when assets get distributed to a trust beneficiary. You can even change the beneficiaries of the trust.

If you, as trustee, decide to distribute assets to a trust beneficiary, such as an adult child, that child can use the distributed money however they see fit, and you can't control what the child does with that money or have any type of agreement on how they use their money.

The child can spend the money for themselves, or they can, if they wish, spend the money for your benefit.

Planning using a MAPT must begin years before nursing home care is needed. The five-year Medicaid lookback period means waiting until a nursing-home admission or after a stroke could eliminate this planning opportunity.

Readers interested in learning more about Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts and other planning tools can find additional educational resources in our Elder Law Learning Hub.

For readers who want a more comprehensive discussion of probate avoidance, Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts and long-term care planning strategies, my bestselling book, Protecting Your Assets from Probate and Long-Term Care (Second Edition): Don't Let the System Bankrupt You and Your Loved Ones, explores these issues in greater detail.

Related Content

• Who Needs a Trust and Who Doesn't? A Financial Planner Explains
• Is Your Estate at Risk? The 5 Trusts You Need to Understand
• Revocable vs Irrevocable Trusts: It Comes Down to Control vs Protection
• What Assets Should Not Be Placed in a Revocable Trust?
• What You Need to Know About Long-Term Care Before You Need It

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

A parent leaves the family home to you and your siblings. It might sound straightforward, but inheriting a house together can quickly raise financial, legal and emotional questions. Unlike cash, a home isn't easily divided. One sibling might want to sell, while another hopes to keep the property in the family.

What happens next can depend on the estate plan, how the property was titled and state law.

For many families, the home could be one of the biggest assets about which they'll have to make those decisions. A Morning Consult survey commissioned by Kiplinger for our Trillion Dollar Talk campaign found that 33% of parents say real estate, including their home, will make up the greatest share of their children's inheritance. Yet just 24% of adult children expect real estate to account for the largest share of what they inherit.

That gap is one reason it can help to talk through expectations before an inheritance becomes an immediate decision.

If you inherit a home with siblings or other family members, understanding your ownership rights, costs and options can help you decide what to do with the property, and hopefully avoid unnecessary conflict along the way.

What does it mean to inherit a house with someone else?

If a home is left to multiple beneficiaries, you aren't necessarily inheriting your own physical portion of the property. Instead, you might each receive an ownership interest in the home.

For example, if a parent leaves a home equally to three children, each child might inherit a one-third ownership interest in the property. The exact ownership arrangement will depend on the estate plan, deed and applicable state law.

You also might not be able to take control of the property immediately. If the home is part of an estate that must go through probate, the executor or personal representative may need to handle the property while the estate is being administered. A home transferred through a trust or certain other arrangements could be handled differently.

Before deciding what to do with the house, find out exactly what you're inheriting and what comes with it. That includes determining whether there's an outstanding mortgage, property tax bill, lien or other obligation connected to the home.

The estate's executor or attorney can help clarify who owns the property, when beneficiaries receive control and whether any debts or other issues need to be resolved first.

Your first decision: Keep, sell or buy someone out

Once ownership is clear, the heirs generally need to decide what they want to do with the property. There are three common options:

1. Sell the home: If everyone agrees, the heirs can sell the property and divide the net proceeds based on their respective ownership interests. This might be the simplest option if no one wants the house or when beneficiaries would rather receive cash.
2. Have one heir keep it: Perhaps one sibling wants to live in the home or has a stronger attachment to it. That person could potentially buy out the other beneficiaries' ownership interests. Getting an independent appraisal can establish a fair value for the property, and the heir keeping the house might need cash or financing to complete the buyout and potentially refinance an existing mortgage.
3. Keep the property together: You could also continue owning the home jointly. Some families keep an inherited house as a vacation property, rental or shared family home. If you go this route, consider creating a written agreement covering how the property can be used, how expenses will be divided and what happens if someone eventually wants out.

The situation becomes more complicated when the heirs don't agree. One co-owner can't simply sell the entire property without the involvement of the others. However, depending on state law and the ownership structure, a co-owner might be able to ask a court for a partition.

Depending on state law and the circumstances, a partition proceeding can result in a court-ordered sale of the property, with the proceeds divided among the owners according to their ownership interests.

Because a court proceeding can add time, expense and tension, it's usually worth exploring a voluntary sale, buyout or another negotiated solution first.

Decide who's paying for the house in the meantime

Even if you eventually decide to sell, you could own the house for months while the estate is settled, belongings are removed, repairs are completed and the property is listed.

During that time, the bills don't disappear. Depending on the property, heirs might have to account for:

• Property taxes
• Homeowners insurance
• Mortgage payments
• Utilities
• Repairs and routine maintenance
• Necessary improvements or preparation before selling the home

Try to decide early who'll pay each expense and keep good records. If one sibling pays $5,000 for necessary repairs, for example, the heirs should agree on whether that person will be reimbursed from the sale proceeds before the remaining money is divided.

It's also important to discuss what happens if one heir lives in the home. Will that person pay rent to the other owners? Will they cover the utilities or a larger percentage of the mortgage, taxes and maintenance instead?

There's no single arrangement that works for every family, but putting your agreement in writing can reduce misunderstandings later.

Understand the tax implications before you sell

Simply receiving an inheritance generally doesn't mean you'll owe federal income tax on the value of what you inherit. However, selling inherited property can have tax consequences.

One important concept to understand is the stepped-up basis. In most cases, the tax basis of inherited property is adjusted to its fair market value as of the date of the owner's death.

Suppose a parent purchased a home for $150,000, and it's worth $400,000 when they die. The heirs' tax basis would generally be $400,000, rather than the parent's original $150,000 purchase price. If the heirs later sell the home for more than their adjusted basis, they could owe capital gains tax on the difference.

That distinction can make a major difference in the tax bill, and it's one reason getting a reliable valuation of the property can be important.

When several people inherit the property, each person's ownership interest also matters when determining their portion of the proceeds and potential gain. State estate or inheritance taxes might create additional considerations, depending on where the deceased person lived and other circumstances.

That potential tax bill is also an area in which parents and their children might have different expectations. The survey found that 34% of adult children expect to pay taxes on an inheritance, compared with just 20% of parents who expect their children to owe taxes. Understanding how inherited property is taxed can help heirs avoid surprises when they eventually decide what to do with the home.

Because rules vary based on the estate and how the property is eventually handled, consider talking with a tax professional before completing a buyout or sale.

What if you and the other heirs can't agree?

A house can be one of the most emotionally complicated assets to inherit. To one sibling, it's a valuable property that could provide money for a down payment, retirement or other financial goals. To another, it's the childhood home where the family spent decades making memories. Those feelings can make it difficult to reach a decision based solely on dollars and cents.

Those competing priorities can also create tension between siblings. According to Kiplinger's Trillion Dollar Talk survey, 33% of adult children with siblings think an inheritance is likely to cause conflict between them and their siblings.

Different expectations about what constitutes a fair inheritance can add to that tension. While 71% of parents with multiple children intend to divide their estate equally, only 47% of adult children expect their parents to divide their assets equally.

If you're trying to decide what to do with a home, start by getting an independent appraisal. Having a neutral estimate of the property's value gives everyone the same number to work from, whether you're considering a sale or a sibling buyout.

It can also help to separate sentimental value from financial value. Wanting to preserve a family home is understandable, but the person who wants to keep it still needs to consider whether they can afford the mortgage, taxes, insurance, upkeep and potentially buying out the other heirs.

If conversations stall, consider bringing in an estate attorney, mediator or financial professional who can help everyone evaluate the options without being as emotionally connected to the property.

Court action might be an option of last resort. Depending on state law, an owner might be able to pursue a partition action to end the co-ownership, which can lead to a court-ordered sale if the property can't reasonably be divided. But litigation can be expensive and potentially damage family relationships long after the house is gone.

Use the tool below to connect with a vetted financial professional:

Before you make a decision about an inherited home

There's no universal right answer for what to do with an inherited house. Selling could make sense for one family, while another may be perfectly comfortable keeping the property together for years.

Before making a decision:

1. Find out exactly who owns what percentage of the property.
2. Get an independent appraisal.
3. Determine whether there's a mortgage, lien or other debt attached to the home.
4. Calculate the ongoing cost of taxes, insurance, maintenance and other expenses.
5. Discuss what each heir wants to do with the property.
6. Put agreements about expenses and use of the home in writing.
7. Talk with an estate attorney and/or tax professional before completing a buyout or sale.

Ideally, some of these conversations can happen before there's a house to inherit. The Trillion Dollar Talk survey suggests that many adult children are looking for more clarity about their parents' plans: When asked what they would most like to know about their inheritance, 11% specifically wanted to know how it would be divided or who would get what.

A conversation today won't eliminate every decision that heirs will eventually have to make. But knowing whether a parent plans to leave a house to one child, several children or sell it through the estate can give everyone more time to understand what that inheritance could mean.

More Trillion Dollar Talk

• Before You Leave Your Home to Your Children, Ask These Questions
• Manage an Inheritance Like a Pro in Just 7 Steps
• How Your Inheritance Actually Gets Taxed: From Stepped-Up Basis to IRA Rules

When my mother turned 90, it was clear she needed to move to assisted living. Her home was truly beautiful; as a talented artist, she had covered the walls with her bright paintings, collected antiques, and thoughtfully refined every corner of the house over her 54 years there. But as my sibling and I got ready to sell, we realized the house was more Grey Gardens than Grey Poupon.

What saved the process for us? A fabulous real estate agent and a realization that we couldn't DIY the process.

Though we sold the house seven years ago, our agent still talks about the sale because it was, to put it mildly, strange. If you find yourself in a similar position — whether you're selling a parent's house or getting your own house ready for market — here are a few surprises I encountered and lessons I learned along the way, as part of Kiplinger's Trillion Dollar Talk campaign.

Lesson 1: Expect the unexpected (even snakes)

We never saw snakes in our suburban garden and never had them as pets, so it was a surprise when our agent, Cheryl Leahy of Compass Homes, found a 5-foot-long black snake emerging from the recesses of the living room couch.

"That's among the top three craziest things that have ever happened to me over 25 years of selling real estate; I was sitting on that couch every day [as we prepped the house]," Leahy recalled.

When you are emptying a house that has been lived in for half a century, you'll find things that shock you. Work with an agent who can roll with surprises.

Lesson 2: Firearms are a pretty common surprise

The closing was a rushed affair, so while we were in the lawyers' office signing documents, our agent, Leahy, was tying up loose ends at the house. Imagine my surprise when she called to say that she had found a gun at the back of a drawer.

I froze, my pen pausing over the document I was signing; then I burst out laughing. My parents had a play readers' group and used a prop gun for one of their noir productions.

Leahy was unperturbed. "I find a lot of guns, and they're usually tucked away somewhere that nobody even remembers. ... We find a lot of rifles in attics."

Lesson 3: Your agent's network is gold

The home had a dial-lock safe sunk into the basement's concrete floor. To close on a house sale, all fixed safes must be open and empty, but even with the combination, I couldn't open it. I called a locksmith, who peeked in with a flashlight and cried, "I see so much gold!" He claimed he needed more time and $350 more to get it out.

I wasn't falling for his scam, so our agent called her own locksmith, who opened it quickly for a fraction of the cost. Instead of gold, it contained silverware and documents and ... a can of Campbell's soup.

As Leahy notes, an effective agent must have a reliable network of trusted local contractors, including painters, haulers, cleaners, landscapers and estate sale experts ... and locksmiths.

Lesson 4: Know the market

A good agent will advise you against making major aesthetic renovations without consulting them first, preventing you from overspending on updates that won't increase the home's market value.

I interviewed several agents before the sale, most of whom recommended ripping out bushes in the front yard and putting in a lawn to attract families with children. I hired Leahy partly because she insisted it was unnecessary. Sure enough, our buyers said that they loved having no front lawn to maintain.

The same holds for any presale renovation. "It's really important to not put more money than you're going to get back out," Leahy urges. She also said buyers are looking for older homes that still have their original charm, which last-minute renovations could ruin.

Lesson 5: Hire a 'wedding planner' for the move

If there's one cardinal rule for getting a parent's house ready for sale, it is this: Don't do it alone.

Jami Shapiro, a senior move manager and member of the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM), says that the biggest mistake well-meaning adult children make is trying to handle the transition on their own.

"The adult child should be the last person that goes through this process with a parent," she advises. "It's emotional for both people. A parent doesn't want to take on the role of parentified adult. ... They've been the parent; let them continue to be the parent."

Instead, Shapiro recommends hiring a senior move manager, whom she describes as a "wedding planner for a move." These professionals can stage the house and get it ready for the market. Furthermore, they often vet real estate agents, protecting families from aggressive realtors who might put the transaction ahead of the emotional transition.

Leahy echoes this sentiment, noting that elderly clients are often far more receptive to advice from a professional, neutral third party than they are to suggestions from their own children.

Ultimately, when you are dealing with the emotional weight of the family home, remember to give everyone a little grace. By outsourcing the heavy lifting to the right professionals, you can command a good price — and preserve your sanity.

More Trillion Dollar Talk

• Before You Leave Your Home to Your Children, Ask These Questions
• What Happens With Taxes When You Inherit a House
• How Real Families Are Handling The Great Wealth Transfer
• Could You Handle a Sudden Windfall?

The Great Wealth Transfer is underway in the United States. Between 2024 and 2048, an estimated $124 trillion in assets is expected to be transferred from baby boomers and the Silent Generation primarily to Generation X, millennials, Generation Z and charity.

This massive transfer of wealth will have major financial implications for families, many of whom have not discussed plans for either how much money will be passed down or what heirs will do with that money once they receive it.

According to a Morning Consult survey commissioned by Kiplinger, roughly two in five families have not discussed an inheritance strategy. Part of this, of course, is that money is considered a taboo subject. But also, the subject of inheritance requires people to acknowledge mortality.

Indeed, roughly a quarter of parents and children surveyed by Morning Consult for Kiplinger's Trillion Dollar Talk campaign said they are somewhat uncomfortable or very uncomfortable talking about money — and inheritance is one of the most difficult topics for them to discuss.

"I couldn't find it in my heart to ask," said one respondent when asked about talking through inheritance plans with their parents.

But talking about inheritance — whether you're giving one or receiving one — is of the utmost importance and allows families to manage expectations, prevent disagreements and create a financial plan.

"Be sure each child understands both the logic for your decisions and the responsibilities they will encounter upon your death," wrote Warren Buffett in November 2024 (PDF). "If any have questions or suggestions, listen carefully and adopt those found sensible. You don't want your children asking 'Why?' in respect to testamentary decisions when you are no longer able to respond."

This is just one lesson the famed investor imparts on inheritance. Below, we'll see what else Buffett and several other influential figures have to say about passing on wealth.

Warren Buffett

According to Cerulli Associates, roughly 15% of the $124 trillion expected to change hands during the Great Wealth Transfer will go to charity.

"The easiest deed in the world is to give away money that will never be of any real use to you or your family," wrote Warren Buffett in a 2021 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders (PDF). "The giving is painless and may well lead to a better life for both you and your children."

In 2006, Buffett committed to distributing all of his Berkshire Hathaway shares to philanthropy. This equates to more than 99% of his net worth.

Buffett added that society has a use for his money; he doesn't.

The former CEO and current chairman of the holding company believes leaving his immense fortune to his three children does them a disservice. "Leave the children enough so that they can do anything but not enough that they can do nothing."

Instead, Buffett and his three children established charitable foundations to which he will distribute his Berkshire Hathaway shares.

Shaquille O'Neal

NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal is another influential figure who does not believe in automatically handing over his estimated $500 million in wealth to his six children. Instead, he's taking a carrot-and-stick approach.

"In order to get my cheese, you have to present me with two degrees," Shaq said in a 2022 interview. In other words, his children need to get bachelor's and master's degrees to inherit his wealth.

"I just keep them motivated," Shaq told 7NEWS Australia. "I'm teaching them about generational wealth right now. I tell them all the time, we don't need another NBA player in the house. If you want to play, I can help you get there, but I would rather see a doctor, dentist, a veterinarian, a world traveler, or a hedge fund guy."

Beyoncé and Jay-Z

Creating generational wealth is key for power couple Jay-Z and Beyoncé. The two have amassed a fortune of nearly $4 billion, thanks in part to their successful music careers, Beyoncé's Parkwood Entertainment production company and Jay-Z's Roc Nation management and entertainment agency.

The two don't typically talk about estate planning or inheritance, but a deep dive into their music provides clues to how they approach the topic. And it appears they plan to use their money to create lasting wealth for their family.

"Daddy, what's a will?"asks Blue Ivy Carter, the pair's firstborn child, in Jay-Z's 2017 song "Legacy."

"Take those moneys and spread 'cross families," Jay-Z answers, saying his sisters, nephews and cousins should get a piece of the pie too. "Generational wealth, that's the key," he goes on to say. "My mom took her money, she bought me bonds. That was the sweetest thing of all time, uh."

And Beyoncé made a reference to generational wealth in her and Jay-Z's 2018 collaborative song "BOSS," saying, "My great-great-grandchildren already rich."

Dave Ramsey

Roughly half of parents surveyed by Morning Consult said they expect to leave a meaningful inheritance to their children. Financial adviser and radio personality Dave Ramsey is here to remind them that they are not obligated to leave their kids any money.

"At the same time," says Ramsey, "I think it's wrong to assume that leaving them your money will damage them in some way. Wealth always magnifies the character of the person holding it."

But if parents are passing down their wealth, it's also their responsibility to teach good money management. "Too many families pass down dollars without ever passing down discipline," explains Ramsey. "And without wisdom, that money disappears in just a generation or two... So don't just leave your family wealth. Leave them the wisdom to build their own."

And for children who are inheriting wealth, Ramsey believes it is their job to "manage that money for the legacy of the person who left it to" them. "That's how you honor their gift."

Suze Orman

In the Morning Consult survey commissioned by Kiplinger, participants said that stocks, bonds, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds make up a small part (8%) of what they will leave their children. At the same time, 15% of heirs want to use their inheritance to grow their own wealth through investing.

But Suze Orman, financial guru and The New York Times best-selling author of The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+, says children should not hold onto investments they inherit for sentimental reasons.

In a 2019 podcast, Orman says that she's noticed "when you get an inheritance from somebody you love, specifically a parent, you tend to hold on to whatever it is that you inherited, thinking that your parents are that item or that investment that they left you."

But just because an asset was a good investment when your parent owned it doesn't mean it's a good asset now.

"You cannot keep your family alive by keeping the investments they left you," Orman explains. "You can honor them, however, and you can honor them and all of their hard work by paying attention to the money that they left you via these investments, and making wise decisions with them as to what those investments are doing right here and right now."

If you inherited something that has to do with money, says Orman, "please don't keep the memories alive by keeping a bad investment. Enhance the memories of what you were left by making more out of less money. By making it grow, making it grow in their memory. Making it grow in their past efforts. But not just keeping it."

More Trillion Dollar Talk

• Trillions of Dollars Will Be Passed Down in the Next 20 Years and Many Families Are Totally Unprepared: What to Know and What to Do
• The Most Tax-Efficient Ways to Leave Investments to Your Children
• Before You Leave Your Home to Your Children, Ask These Questions
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Dubbed The Great Junk Transfer, a recent study revealed a shift in how the next generation views an inheritance. While legacy once meant handing down every heirloom, modern families are pushing back: 51% of people now prefer to receive a few intentional items tied to personal stories, rather than a house full of possessions.

"The objects that once signaled status and care simply don’t carry the same language for the next generation," says Blaise Aguirre, assistant professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

For generations, passing down a household of physical possessions was considered the ultimate act of love. You work hard, build a life and one day, your children inherit your mahogany dining set, your 120-piece fine China service and three display cases of commemorative state spoons.

The study from 1-800-GOT-JUNK? reveals that when a loved one passes away, what heirs truly want is connection, not a full-scale removal operation.

What we actually want (and what we really don't)

When people talk about inherited treasures, they rarely mean rusty 1980s workout equipment or the stack of dusty Encyclopedia Brittanicas in the attic. In the survey, people said they'd like to inherit fewer things (54%) and cited sentimental value as the reason they'd hold onto inherited items. Most respondents preferred to receive one to five items.

Items carry memories, but they aren't the memory itself. Giving loved ones permission to keep only a few meaningful treasures keeps the mourning process focused on healing — not clearing out a house. In the end, it's the personal connection that stays with us.

"Meaning is entirely in the eye of the beholder," Aguirre notes. What heirs cherish are items infused with personal story and presence:

• Handwritten recipes: Cards stained with vanilla extract and written in Mom's distinct cursive carry memories of licking the spoon and waiting impatiently for cookies to cool.
• A well-worn watch or ring: An everyday piece that instantly brings a loved one's presence back into focus.
• A photo album: An archive covering decades of family gatherings and milestones. Consider digitizing these albums to preserve the memories for future generations.
• A single favorite item: The coffee mug Dad drank from every morning, or the ring dish Mom kept on her nightstand.

4 ways to lighten the load (without the guilt)

Navigating an estate handoff doesn't have to mean hurt feelings or overloaded basements. By having early, open conversations about what holds value, families can protect both their cherished memories and their living space. When we focus on quality over quantity, passing things down becomes what it was always meant to be: A gesture of connection, not a burden.

Across international lines, on average, 48% of the Americans, Canadians and Australians surveyed would rather inherit nothing than cope with clearing out someone else's belongings. That said, 55% of the respondents said that they have helped clear a relative's home, with the task taking an average of 17 days.

On the other hand, 69% of people have discovered something they forgot existed while cleaning out a home. Some items held great sentimental value, such as a hard drive containing more than 12,000 family photos and passports from when their grandparents immigrated.

If you're currently looking around your home — or helping aging parents look around theirs — here is a kind, stress-free roadmap for navigating the handoff:

• Have the conversation early: Talk about items before life forces the issue. Ask your kids directly: "What's one or two things in this house you'd love to keep one day?" You might be surprised by what they select and equally relieved by what they don't care about.
• Aim for a "top 10": Encourage family members to select five to 10 items that carry personal meaning. Let the rest go without guilt.
• Separate sentimental value from everyday utility: That oak wardrobe might be solid wood, but if nobody has space for a 300-pound armoire, it's just furniture. Don't confuse emotional value with functional household goods.
• Give permission to let go: Remind your loved ones — and yourself — that an object is not the memory itself. Donating, gifting or hiring a removal team to clear out extra clutter frees up space for the things that truly matter.

Enjoy family and forget about the stuff

At the end of the day, a person's legacy isn't measured in cubic feet of cardboard. A single recipe box or a favorite worn sweater holds far more emotional weight than a house full of things nobody has room for. When we focus on the memories that truly matter, we give our families permission to hold on to the love — and let go of the rest.

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An inheritance can rapidly change your finances, but it often arrives alongside grief. Even if the money provides greater financial security, deciding what to do with it can feel more complicated than managing another type of windfall.

You don't need to make major financial decisions right away. Giving yourself time can help you understand what you've inherited, consider your priorities and decide what you want the money to do for you.

Where you ultimately put an inheritance will depend on your existing finances, when you might need the money and the type of assets you've inherited. The first step is making sure the money is protected while you figure out what comes next.

Start by putting the money somewhere safe

"Cash and savings" is the most popular asset that older parents say makes up their estate, a Morning Consult survey commissioned by Kiplinger found, above real estate, stocks and life insurance.

You can take your time to decide what to ultimately do with the money, but it's important to keep it safe in the meantime. If your inheritance arrives as cash, consider temporarily parking it somewhere liquid while you make a long-term plan.

Options include a high-yield savings account, a money market account or a short-term CD. These accounts can provide a safe place while you decide what to do next. Savings and money market accounts also keep funds easily accessible. With a short-term CD, you might pay an early withdrawal penalty if you take the money out before the term ends, so consider when you could need the funds.

If you've inherited a particularly large amount of money, pay attention to deposit insurance limits. Deposits are generally insured for up to $250,000 per client, per insured institution and per ownership category. If you've inherited more than $250,000, you might need to spread the money across multiple institutions or ownership categories to make sure the full amount is covered.

You might feel ready to put the money to work right away. Our survey with Morning Consult, part of Kiplinger's Trillion Dollar Talk campaign, found that 70% of adult children say they feel prepared to manage an inheritance, including 40% who say they're very confident. But being prepared doesn't mean you need to act immediately.

When you first receive an inheritance, your priority can simply be protecting the money while you decide what comes next. Once it's somewhere safe, you can take a closer look at what you've inherited, your financial priorities and any potential tax consequences.

Before investing, find out what you actually inherited

Tax rules surrounding inheritances can be confusing. The federal government generally doesn't tax beneficiaries for receiving inherited cash, though income generated by inherited assets might be taxable.

Federal estate tax, when it applies, is generally paid by the estate rather than the beneficiary. Some states, including Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, also impose an inheritance tax, with what you owe often depending on your relationship to the person who died.

Inherited IRAs, brokerage accounts, real estate and other assets can each come with different tax rules. For example, withdrawals from an inherited traditional IRA might be subject to income tax and distribution requirements.

It's important to understand what you've inherited before making major decisions, so don't automatically cash out investments or retirement accounts before learning about potential tax consequences.

The confusion around inheritance taxes is reflected in Morning Consult and Kiplinger's survey, which found that 34% of adult children expect to owe taxes on an inheritance, compared with 20% of parents who expect their children to owe taxes. If you're unsure about the tax rules surrounding inheritances, consult an estate attorney or tax professional before making any moves that could have tax consequences.

Decide what the inheritance could do for your financial life

Instead of focusing on where you can earn the highest return, consider how the inheritance fits into your overall financial picture and what you want to accomplish. That can help you decide how to manage your inheritance.

Your priorities might include:

• Paying off high-interest debt
• Building or replenishing an emergency fund
• Catching up on retirement savings
• Saving for a near-term goal
• Investing for long-term growth
• Setting aside a small portion for something meaningful or enjoyable

An inheritance can potentially help you achieve any of these goals, but your priorities will shape what you do with it.

Match where you put the money to when you'll need it

Once you've decided what you want to accomplish, think about when you'll need the funds. Money you'll need soon generally belongs somewhere stable and accessible, while cash you won't need for many years might have more opportunity to grow through investing.

Here's how your options might change depending on your timeline:

• If you'll need the money within the next year or two: Prioritize safety and easy access over growth. A high-yield savings account or money market account can work well for money earmarked for a home purchase, major expense or other near-term goal. A short-term CD might also be an option if you're confident you won't need the money before it matures.
• If your goal is a few years away: You have more flexibility, but you might not want to expose all the money to market swings. Depending on your timeline and comfort with risk, you could keep some of the inheritance in savings or CDs while investing a portion for potential growth.
• If you're investing for the long term: Money you don't expect to need for many years might be better positioned for long-term growth. A diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds and other investments can offer greater growth potential, although you'll need to be comfortable with market fluctuations along the way.

Whatever approach you choose, consider how the inheritance fits into your broader financial plan. A significant windfall could give you opportunities to rethink goals that once seemed years away.

If you're unsure how to balance those priorities, a financial professional can help you determine how an inheritance fits into your short- and long-term goals.

Use the tool below to connect with a vetted financial professional who can help:

Consider whether this changes your bigger financial plan

An inheritance can reshape your financial plans in ways you might not have anticipated. It could allow you to retire earlier, pay off your mortgage, help your children or grandchildren, buy a home or give more to causes about which you care. Used thoughtfully, that final gift from a loved one can provide greater financial security and flexibility for years to come.

If the inheritance significantly changes your finances, consider talking with a financial planner and tax professional before making major decisions. They can help you understand how the money fits into your existing goals, identify potential tax considerations and develop a plan to use or invest it.

This might also be a good time to review your own estate plan and beneficiary designations. If your financial situation has changed, updating your plans can help ensure they still reflect your wishes and make things easier for your loved ones in the future.

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Creating a will is an important part of estate planning, but it doesn't necessarily determine who receives every asset you own. Retirement accounts, life insurance policies and certain other financial accounts typically pass directly to the beneficiaries named on those accounts, regardless of what your will says.

That can create problems if beneficiary forms are missing or haven't been reviewed in years. The person you named when you first opened a retirement account at work, for example, might no longer be the person you want to inherit today.

Beneficiary designations aren't always part of the estate-planning conversation. A new Morning Consult survey conducted on behalf of Kiplinger for our Trillion Dollar Talk campaign found that just 36% of parents surveyed had designated beneficiaries on retirement accounts or life insurance policies. Another 30% said they had none of the formal estate-planning arrangements included in the survey.

Fortunately, reviewing your beneficiaries is one of the more straightforward estate-planning tasks you can tackle. Here's where to look and when it might be time to make a change.

Know which accounts have beneficiaries

In the Trillion Dollar Talk survey, 17% of adult children said they expected life insurance to make up the greatest share of their inheritance. Retirement accounts were another source of expected inherited wealth.

Here are some accounts and financial products that allow or require you to name a beneficiary:

• 401(k)s and other workplace retirement plans. Money in these accounts generally passes to the beneficiary named on the plan.
• IRAs. Traditional and Roth IRAs also allow you to designate who will inherit the account.
• Life insurance policies. The insurer pays the death benefit to the beneficiary or beneficiaries listed on the policy.
• Annuities. Depending on the contract, an annuity might include a death benefit that passes to a designated beneficiary.
• Transfer-on-death (TOD) and payable-on-death (POD) accounts. These designations can allow assets in certain brokerage and bank accounts to pass directly to a named beneficiary without going through probate. Availability and rules vary by account, financial institution and state.

These accounts are different from assets that might be distributed through your will, trust or other estate-planning arrangements. A beneficiary designation is attached directly to the account, which is why keeping it current is so important.

Rules can also vary depending on the type of account. For example, with many employer-sponsored retirement plans, a spouse is generally required to be the primary beneficiary unless they waive that right. IRAs and life insurance policies typically provide more flexibility when choosing beneficiaries.

Check who is actually listed

Once you've made your list of accounts, check each one individually. Depending on the provider, you might be able to find your beneficiary information by logging in online. Otherwise, contact the plan administrator, insurance company, bank or brokerage firm.

Don't rely on your memory of filling out a beneficiary form years ago. Confirm what the financial institution has on file.

Look at both your primary beneficiary, who is first in line to receive the asset, and any contingent beneficiaries, who might receive it if the primary beneficiary dies before you, can't be located or declines the inheritance.

While you're there, make sure names and other identifying information are accurate and current. You should also look for accounts that don't have a beneficiary listed.

Pay extra attention to accounts you've moved between financial institutions. FINRA recommends double-checking beneficiary information after transferring an account to another firm to make sure the designation still reflects your wishes.

Life changes that should trigger a beneficiary review

Beneficiary designations shouldn't be something you fill out once and forget. Your relationships, finances and estate-planning goals can change significantly over the course of a decade or two.

Some of the biggest reasons to revisit your beneficiaries include:

• Getting married or divorced
• The death of a spouse or another beneficiary
• The birth or adoption of a child or grandchild
• Remarriage or the creation of a blended family
• Estrangement or another major change in a family relationship
• A beneficiary developing a disability or other circumstances that might require specialized planning
• A significant increase or decrease in your wealth
• Major changes to your broader estate plan

Even without a major life event, it's worth reviewing your beneficiary designations periodically. You might make the check part of an annual financial review, along with looking at your insurance coverage, investments and retirement contributions.

Don't assume your will fixes an outdated beneficiary

It's easy to assume that once you update your will, all your assets will follow those instructions. But that's not always how it works.

For accounts with a named beneficiary, such as a 401(k), IRA or life insurance policy, the beneficiary designation on the account generally takes priority over what your will says.

For example, say you named your spouse as the beneficiary of a retirement account years ago. You later divorce, remarry and update your will to leave your assets to your new spouse. But you never update that old retirement account. That outdated beneficiary designation could still create problems.

This is why it's worth reviewing beneficiary forms separately whenever you update your estate plan. If your situation involves divorce, remarriage or other complicated family circumstances, an estate-planning attorney can help everything line up.

Make sure your beneficiary choices fit your broader estate plan

Beneficiary forms might seem like standalone paperwork, but they should work with the rest of your estate plan.

Think about how your retirement accounts, life insurance, real estate and other assets will ultimately be divided. Looking at the full picture can help you spot imbalances, such as one child receiving a large retirement account while another receives significantly less through your will. Reviewing everything together can help ensure your beneficiary choices reflect how you want to provide for the people in your life.

Pay extra attention if you have minor children, a blended family, a trust or a beneficiary with special needs, since these situations might require additional planning. Don't forget contingent beneficiaries as well. Naming a backup helps clarify where an account should go if your primary beneficiary dies before you.

This type of planning also highlights the importance of talking about inheritance before it becomes an urgent issue. The Trillion Dollar Talk survey found that two in five families have never discussed inheritance, and 30% of parents surveyed had none of the formal estate-planning arrangements included in the survey. Even a basic conversation about your plans and where important documents are kept can make things easier for your family later.

Make a beneficiary check part of your financial routine

You don't have to overhaul your entire estate plan in one afternoon. Start with a simple task: Make a list of every retirement account, life insurance policy, annuity and other financial account that might have a beneficiary designation.

Then check the beneficiary listed on each one, including your contingent beneficiaries. Keep a record of any changes you make and when you made them.

Consider repeating the process once a year and after any major family or financial change. It can also be smart to review beneficiary designations whenever you update your will or other estate-planning documents so the different parts of your plan continue to work together.

If you have a more complicated estate, such as one involving trusts, a blended family, minor children or beneficiaries with special needs, consider coordinating your beneficiary review with an estate-planning attorney and your financial professional.

A beneficiary form might seem like a small piece of paperwork. But when it determines where some of your largest assets ultimately go, keeping it current can be just as important as creating the estate plan itself.

Use the tool below to connect with a financial professional who can help:

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An inherited stock portfolio can change your life, but it often arrives at precisely the moment you're least prepared to make major financial decisions.

"Receiving an inheritance is an emotionally charged event, usually a mix of grief, guilt, gratitude and even relief, which can create a bias toward action," says Ashley Weeks, a wealth strategist at TD Wealth. "The best thing any beneficiary can do at the outset is take a beat and gather the facts."

That doesn't mean doing nothing. Some decisions can wait, while others — such as understanding the tax consequences, account rules or required distributions that apply to your inheritance — might need more immediate action. This is where a financial adviser's guidance can be golden.

"A good adviser is also there to shed light on your blind spots and fill in your knowledge gaps, while keeping you from making emotionally charged decisions that affect your finances," says Kyle Labelle, an owner at Milestone Financial Planning.

When should you consult an adviser after receiving an inheritance? "Immediately," says Stephanie Temporiti, wealth adviser and executive director at Hightower Signature Wealth.

"You will want to understand the requirements for any money that needs to be distributed to you by law, as well as the tax implications for selling certain stocks or taking money out of an account," she says. "A financial planner will also identify other areas that may need attention after an inheritance, such as estate planning, insurance needs and tax planning."

Consulting an adviser immediately doesn't mean making every decision in that moment. These five questions can help you start the inheritance conversation and create a long-term plan for the portfolio you inherited.

1. What do I need to do now — and what can wait?

One of the hardest parts of receiving an inheritance is figuring out which decisions need your immediate attention. The good news is that not everything does.

"Making significant decisions around money is something to do when the grief wave has somewhat subsided," Temporiti says. "Sometimes it is OK to let emotions take the front seat with decision-making; money doesn't work that way."

She writes a "now, soon, later" list for her clients. "These are the things we need to accomplish immediately, in six to 12 months and beyond," she says. Having a clear action plan can help calm financial anxieties during a time when you're already dealing with plenty elsewhere in your life.

"The process of inheriting stock can feel like a paper chase initially," Weeks says. "Whether inheriting from an estate, trust, beneficiary designation, or a TOD [transfer of death] account, the recipient will need to provide documentation, and there may be a waiting period for creditor claims."

Your immediate priorities might include completing the necessary paperwork, determining exactly what type of account you inherited and identifying any required distributions or deadlines that apply.

An adviser can help you identify what needs to be addressed now and what bigger financial and investment decisions can safely be put on the back burner until the emotional heat subsides.

2. What taxes will I owe, and what is my cost basis?

Death and taxes may be the only certainties in life, but the tax treatment of inherited investments isn't always straightforward.

"If there is any uncertainty, the first question to ask is how an inherited portfolio will be taxed when positions are sold or distributions are taken," Weeks says.

One of the first things to figure out after inheriting a stock portfolio is what the IRS considers your starting point, also known as the property's cost basis. This basis will determine how much capital gains you'll owe if you sell.

If you've inherited investments directly, the cost basis is generally reset to the investment's fair market value on the date of the owner's death, although an alternative date can apply if the executor of the estate elects to use one.

But not every inherited account receives the same treatment. For example, inherited investments in a tax-advantaged account such as an IRA are subject to specific inherited retirement account tax and distribution rules. Many nonspouse beneficiaries of retirement accounts must also empty the account within 10 years.

The way the inherited property reaches you can matter, too. For example, property distributed through certain trusts might receive a different basis treatment than assets included in the deceased owner's estate.

"That difference can significantly change your tax bill when you eventually sell, which is exactly why it can make sense to slow down and understand which rule applies before you act," says Labelle.

3. Does this portfolio fit my goals, time horizon and risk tolerance?

Stocks, bonds, mutual funds and/or ETFs are part of 25% of older parents' estates, a Morning Consult survey commissioned by Kiplinger found. The portfolio you inherited was built for someone else. It might have worked beautifully for them, but that doesn't mean it's right for you.

"Once the necessary documentation is provided and the tax situation is clearly understood, the recipient of an inherited portfolio can evaluate whether the specific holdings fit their financial plan and make adjustments accordingly," Weeks says.

Your age, income needs, financial goals, investment timeline and risk appetite are all unique to you. This makes asset allocation inherently personal. An adviser can look at the inheritance alongside any investments you already own to determine the best way to combine them.

You can also ask the adviser what your target allocation should look like now, given your situation and goals, then compare that with the portfolio you now own.

4. Which stocks should I keep, sell or diversify — and how should I make those changes?

Even if you discover that your inherited portfolio isn't quite right for you, that doesn't mean you need to sell everything immediately. By the same token, you also don't need to keep anything simply because someone you loved chose it.

Instead, ask your adviser to evaluate each holding in the context of your entire portfolio. You might want to keep a close eye on risk level and concentration. If a large portion of your inherited portfolio is in a single company, industry or sector, a bad turn for those investments could have an outsize impact on your new finances.

One helpful way to frame the conversation can be to ask your adviser: If I had inherited cash instead of these stocks, what would you recommend I own today?

From there, you can discuss whether it makes sense to keep each investment, sell it or diversify gradually.

"Ultimately, this relationship gives you a decision-making partner who knows you, your situation and what you're hoping to accomplish," Labelle explains.

5. How does this inheritance change my overall financial plan?

Each investment you own is only one part of a larger equation. The bigger question is what the inheritance could allow you to do differently in the rest of your financial life.

"It's important to get an understanding of how an inheritance impacts your own financial picture," Temporiti says. "This allows you to be a good steward of the money you inherited and maximize its utility."

That could mean reducing or changing your work situation, paying down debt or increasing savings to pave the way for a brighter tomorrow. It might also give you the ability to help future generations or causes you care about.

"It's easy to lose sight of the fact that money is a tool — nothing more, nothing less — to achieve our highest aspirations," Temporiti says. "This is what the deceased person wanted for you: to see you do good with the money and live your life to the fullest."

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Note: This item first appeared in Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine, a monthly, trustworthy source of advice and guidance, as a letter from the editor. We're sharing it here to shed light on our findings for our digital audience, as part of our Trillion Dollar Talk campaign. Subscribe to Kiplinger to help you make more money and keep more of the money you make here.

In our cover story this month, we've taken a deep dive into what the Great Wealth Transfer — the estimated $124 trillion of assets that will flow from older generations to heirs and charities through 2048 — means for families. While a good chunk of that transfer will come from a small slice of high-net-worth households, those who aren't among the super-rich are making plans to share their wealth over the coming couple of decades, too.

To gather insight into how families are handling this historic shift, Kiplinger commissioned an exclusive survey, conducted by research firm Morning Consult, of more than 5,000 older parents and adult children, asking for their knowledge and expectations surrounding the inheritance that parents will leave for their heirs.

Drawing from the survey's findings, the story you can find here offers advice on how families can successfully navigate this transition, from determining what information you may want to disclose to your children about their inheritance ahead of time to ensuring that you pass along your values, too. In another story, we outline some key takeaways from the survey.

And in a third story, we provide guidelines on having conversations with your adult children that will leave them well positioned to manage their inheritance and minimize conflicts and confusion among your heirs when the assets change hands.

How real families are handling this transition

As a complement to the stories in our cover package, we asked readers to send us their responses to this question: Are you giving away some of your money or assets to your heirs while you're still living, or do you intend to leave a larger inheritance later? I'm sharing a few responses here.

Many readers said they are offering some financial help while they're still around to see their children enjoy it, and at a stage during which their kids may most need the assistance. Says one reader, "My in-laws gave us money at a time in our lives when we were raising three children, and it was very helpful to our family. We feel that our retirement is secure and have started giving some money each year to our children while they are young adults, as they raise children and buy homes. I feel that it can benefit them more at this stage of their lives than later."

Another reader emphasized the importance of conveying financial lessons along with giving gifts. "Our philosophy for giving to children is to make their lives better, not remove the incentive for hard work and development of good spending habits," he says. He and his wife provided about 35% of the down payment for their son's home purchase, and they explained to him how paying extra on his mortgage can reduce total interest on the loan and shorten the time it takes to pay it off.

Several of you mentioned that you're helping your grandchildren, too, funding their retirement accounts and college-savings plans. One reader is contributing $5,000 yearly to each of his five grandchildren's 529 plans, with a goal of contributing $100,000 total per beneficiary.

"Because I was willing to start early, my family can benefit from the tax-free growth of these funds," he says. And, he notes, if any of the grandchildren don't use all the savings on education expenses, they can roll over as much as $35,000 from the 529 to a Roth IRA tax- and penalty-free, "giving that generation a head start on retirement savings."

A reader whose two oldest grandchildren are in college is boosting their retirement savings — and encouraging them to start thinking about investing—by contributing to their Roth IRAs. And, he says, "Once they begin their careers, we will offer to match their retirement-fund contribution."

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When money or property changes hands after a loved one passes, the tax rules surrounding inheritance taxes and estate taxes can feel daunting.

Additionally, many people may have heard claims about owing IRS tax bills after an inheritance or intimidating phrases like "death taxes," which can blur the lines between myth and reality. In fact, a new survey conducted by Morning Consult for Kiplinger's Trillion Dollar Talk campaign found that a third of both older adults and adult children are unsure whether heirs will owe taxes on an inheritance, demonstrating the confusion around this topic.

As with all tax rules, knowing the facts is important. So why not test your knowledge with this short quiz to see if you can separate inheritance tax facts from fiction.

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You might envision aging in place and remaining independent throughout retirement. But as you plan for the years ahead, it's also important to consider the possibility that you might eventually need some form of long-term care.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, approximately 70% of people turning age 65 can expect to need some form of long-term care during their lives. Long-term care costs can add up quickly, potentially affecting both your retirement savings and the assets you hope to leave behind.

A Morning Consult survey commissioned by Kiplinger as part of our Trillion Dollar Talk campaign found that 47% of parents expect to leave a meaningful inheritance. But even a carefully planned inheritance can be affected by expenses later in life, particularly the cost of long-term care. If leaving money or other assets to your children is important to you, planning for those potential costs now can help protect your own financial security while preserving more flexibility for what you ultimately leave behind.

How long-term care costs can affect an inheritance

Long-term care can be expensive, and what you pay will depend on the type of care you need and where you live. According to the CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey (PDF), national median costs for several common types of care include:

• In-home care. $80,080 per year, assuming 44 hours of care per week
• Assisted living community care. $6,200 per month, or $74,400 annually
• Nursing home care in a semi-private room. $315 per day, or $114,975 annually
• Nursing home care in a private room. $355 per day, or $129,575 annually

Paying for several years of long-term care could significantly reduce your savings and other assets, leaving less to pass on to your heirs. It's a concern shared by many parents. The Trillion Dollar Talk survey found that 24% of parents surveyed worry long-term care or healthcare costs could deplete their estates.

While you might want to preserve an inheritance for your children, your own retirement and care needs should come first. Planning ahead can help you prepare for those costs while protecting your broader financial goals.

Build long-term care into your financial plan

Because you might need long-term care at some point, it;s important to plan for how you'd cover the cost before you actually need care.

Savings and retirement income may be part of that plan. If you're eligible for a health savings account (HSA), it can provide a tax-advantaged way to set aside money for future healthcare expenses.

HSA balances roll over from year to year, allowing you to build funds that can be used tax-free for qualified medical expenses. You can also use HSA funds to pay qualified long-term care insurance premiums, subject to annual IRS limits based on your age.

Long-term care insurance is another option to consider. Medicare and traditional health insurance generally do not cover ongoing custodial care, such as help with everyday activities like bathing, dressing or eating. Depending on the policy, long-term care insurance can help cover services provided at home, in an assisted living facility or in a nursing home.

Coverage varies by policy, so it's important to understand what you're buying. Policies typically have an elimination period before benefits begin and limits on how much they'll pay per day or month and over your lifetime. Premiums, benefit amounts and covered services can also vary considerably.

No single strategy will be right for everyone. Your approach might include a combination of savings, retirement income, insurance and other assets. As your finances and circumstances change, revisit your plan to make sure you have adequate resources to cover potential care costs.

A financial adviser can also help you evaluate your options and how they fit into your broader retirement and estate plans.

Use the tool below to connect with a vetted financial professional:

Make sure your estate plan reflects your priorities

An estate plan can include a will, trust, power of attorney and other documents that outline how you want your finances, property and other affairs handled during your lifetime and after your death. Yet the Trillion Dollar Talk survey found that nearly three in 10 parents have no formal estate plan, while 41% have a will.

If you already have an estate plan, review your will, trust, beneficiary designations and other documents periodically to make sure they still reflect your wishes. As part of that review, consider how potential long-term care expenses could affect the assets you expect to leave your heirs.

When you develop or review your estate plan, keep in mind that the value of your assets today might not reflect what is ultimately passed down to your heirs. Retirement spending and long-term care costs can reduce your assets over time, potentially leaving a smaller inheritance than you originally planned.

Talk to your children about what to expect

Talking to your children about your estate plan can be difficult, and many families put off the conversation. The Trillion Dollar Talk survey found that roughly two in five families have never discussed plans for passing down money and assets. Among parents who haven't discussed their plans in detail, 34% say there are too many unknowns, including how long they'll live and how much they'll ultimately have to leave.

You don't need to provide an exact inheritance amount. Instead, the conversation can focus on the plans you have in place and how your assets might be used during your lifetime, including how to pay for long-term care.

This is also a good time to discuss whether you expect your children to play a role in your care or help manage your finances. Make sure they know where to find important information, including details about your financial accounts, life and long-term care insurance policies, will and other estate planning documents.

Having these conversations before a health crisis gives your children time to ask questions, understand your wishes and prepare for any responsibilities they might take on. It can also help avoid confusion or difficult decisions during an already stressful time.

Ultimately, the inheritance you expect to leave could change as your care needs and expenses evolve. Planning for those costs now can help you protect your own financial security while giving your family a clearer idea of what to expect.

More Trillion Dollar Talk

• Trillions of Dollars Will Be Passed Down in the Next 20 Years and Many Families Are Totally Unprepared: What to Know and What to Do
• The Great Wealth Transfer is Creating a New Generation of Family CFOs
• Long-Term Care Insurance: 10 Things You Should Know
• These Are the 2 Legal Documents Everyone Should Have, Courtesy of an Estate Planning Attorney

For many families, the Great Wealth Transfer starts long before an inheritance. Many adult children are becoming their aging parents' go-to financial decision-makers.

The shift from adult child to the family's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) can happen suddenly after discovering unpaid bills, a suspicious bank wire request or an aging parent falling prey to a scammer. Or the job can be created out of necessity after the realization that mom and dad's financial life has grown too complex to manage on their own, says Tyler Rosser, managing director at Oxford Financial Group.

Longer life expectancies, coupled with the staggering $124 trillion in wealth set to change hands through 2048, according to Cerulli Associates, are making the family CFO an increasingly common job description. "It's becoming much more prevalent," says Rosser.

Serving as the de facto family CFO means taking on a broad range of money-related responsibilities, such as overseeing estate planning and long-term care. It's time-consuming, and depending on your parents' situation, difficult, so make sure you take care of yourself throughout your "term" as CFO.

Here are six steps to acting as a family CFO.

1: Start with a conversation

The best plan of action is to sit down with your aging parents while they are still capable of making financial decisions — and before a crisis strikes, such as the onset of dementia — and explain why you'd like to play a larger role in managing their finances and be privy to their estate planning.

"It starts with a conversation with the older parents and getting their buy-in," says Rosser.

"Millions of families [are] going through generational transitions," says Timothy Habbershon, managing director and founder of the Fidelity Center for Family Engagement.

Unfortunately, many families haven't had these important sit-downs. A Morning Consult survey, commissioned by Kiplinger as part of our Trillion Dollar Talk campaign, found that roughly two in five families have never discussed the plans for passing on money and assets.

"As people get older — especially past 70 — they often become less willing to talk about things like estate planning," Habbershon said. It's a unique opportunity, he says, to "create confidence, closeness and peace of mind for years to come."

2. Collect relevant financial information with an 'audit'

To perform CFO duties properly, the adult child in charge must have access to all pertinent financial information for both parents, including the following items.

• Account access. Savings, investment, and retirement account numbers and passwords, as well as combinations or keys to safes and safety-deposit boxes.
• Cash flow. Monthly bill statements and recurring expenses.
• Legal documents. Real estate records, wills and trusts.
• Insurance. Life, health and long-term care policies.

"When your parents are aging, the most important thing adult children (acting as CFO) need to do is gather key financial information," says Noah Doyle, CEO of SoundRidge Private Wealth.

Gathering these documents gives the family CFO a fuller picture of their parents' finances. By laying everything out on the table while the parents are still alive and mentally competent, the family CFO also has a better chance at preventing in-fighting between adult siblings who have a stake in their aging parents' estate, adds Doyle.

Ideally, the family CFO will have full transparency into his or her parents' financial life. At a minimum, the CFO should get the parents to grant access to their account statements, preferably via a "duplicate statement" arrangement or "view-only access."

"It gives the family CFO insight into transactions that are coming in and out of a checking account or what withdrawals are coming out of an investment account," says Rosser. "They can log into a Fidelity or Schwab account, for example, and see account data in real time."

A parent can also authorize his financial institution or financial adviser to add the adult child and family CFO as a "trusted contact," which allows the adviser to contact the family CFO if he suspects financial exploitation, fraud, cognitive decline or can't reach the client. They can do the same for their Social Security accounts.

"The last thing you want is your parent to be susceptible to some sort of elder fraud," says Doyle. "Anytime a wire goes out or a transaction looks suspicious or fishy, you know it's time to step in."

A key piece of information that must be clarified, adds Doyle, is whether aging parents have a long-term care policy in place. Often, elderly parents have a policy but don't share that key information with their adult children.

If a long-term care policy does exist, it's important to evaluate it closely.

"You need to know what the policy number is and understand what the benefits are because if there's ever a time when your parents have to use this policy, it's the children who are going to actually file the claim and know what the care options are," says Doyle.

If there's no long-term care policy in place, the CFO must analyze the parents' assets to determine whether they have enough to cover long-term care, and if so, the most tax-efficient ways to raise the cash to pay for care, says Doyle.

3. Secure power of attorney

In many cases, it's prudent for the family CFO to have the aging parent or parents grant them power of attorney (POA), a legal authorization that lets the child manage the parents' financial affairs.

"A power of attorney can encompass everything from paying their mortgage to making sure they have enough liquid resources to satisfy their day-to-day living expenses," says Rosser.

Peggy Sizow, chief fiduciary officer at National Advisors Trust, says a power of attorney can be customized however a family wants. If the family CFO is most suited for financial matters, a financial power of attorney can be set up; if another family member is more comfortable with healthcare issues, a healthcare power of attorney can be set up in their name, says Sizow.

The financial power of attorney can enable the family CFO to take control of all a parent’s finances, or it can specify certain types of financial accounts, such as bank, brokerage or retirement accounts. "They can be as customizable as you like," says Sizow.

Having full visibility into a parent's financial accounts is also a way to protect them from cybercriminals and other fraudsters and scammers, and in some cases, protecting them from themselves, says Rosser.

"It protects them from bad actors," says Rosser. An elderly person may also inadvertently cause financial harm to themselves by continuing to give to charities they have supported their entire life but can no longer afford. A review of checking accounts by the CFO can spot those types of self-inflicted wounds.

"The family CFO can step in and say, 'Mom, you've done such a good job gifting to charity in your life, but you really need to preserve most of those assets for the rest of your life,' " says Rosser.

4. Build a team of trusted advisers

The family CFO likely won't be an expert in money management, estate planning or tax planning. It's prudent for the adult child managing a parent's finances to connect with and build a relationship with experts when needed, adds Rosser.

"Bringing in a broader advisory group is a really good strategy," says Rosser. "Lean on the professionals around you."

Aging parents might be more willing to listen to a suggestion by the family CFO if it's backed up by the parents' long-time financial adviser or CPA.

"Everyone is sort of singing the same tune," says Rosser. "You get more buy-in that way."

An effective family CFO gathers key financial information from trusted experts and makes a sound financial decision.

"The family CFO's job is to get the information and options from the parents' long-term accountant, long-term estate attorney, long-term financial adviser," says Doyle. "Once they've gotten all the information from the professionals, then they make the best decision that’s best for their family."

5. Create or manage the estate plan

Finalize and verify your parents' estate plan well before Mom or Dad gets sick or incapacitated, says Sizow. "There are quite a few things that could take place prior to an inheritance," says Sizow.

Creating a trust and titling assets as "payable on death," for example, can help assets pass more easily to heirs and avoid costly, time-intensive probate court, Sizow advises.

It's important that you know the key components of the estate plan, including the names and contact information of the professionals your parents worked with on it, as well as how to access estate documents. Kiplinger's Trillion Dollar Talk survey found that a third of adult children whose parents have estate documents don't know how to access those documents.

6. Act when necessary

Hopefully you will not need to step in on your parents' behalf for years to come. Still, it makes sense to monitor their accounts and keep an eye on their health, especially if they show signs of physical or mental decline.

More Trillion Dollar Talk

• How to Talk to Your Family About Estate Planning (Without the Drama)
• Being the Executor of an Estate Is a Thankless Job: Here's How to Do It Well Anyway
• How to Organize Your Financial Paperwork for Your Heirs
• 5 Critical Questions to Ask a Financial Adviser About an Inherited Stock Portfolio

The Great Wealth Transfer is upon us: A decades-long period in which more than $100 trillion in assets are expected to pass from one generation to the next.

This once-in-a-lifetime transfer of generational wealth has long been hyped in the press, online and on social media for good reason. An estimated $124 trillion will flow to heirs through 2048, according to research firm Cerulli Associates.

That's a lot of money individuals will have to spend, save and invest — and many don't even know it's coming: A new survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of Kiplinger found that while 47% of parents expect to leave a meaningful inheritance, only 24% of adult children expect to receive one.

But there's more to the Great Wealth Transfer than the dollar amount, even though it is eye-popping. There's who gets a piece of the pie, how end-of-life expenses will shrink it, and what it means for your financial plan. That's just scratching the surface.

If you're one of the millions of Americans who stand to inherit wealth during the coming decades, it's important to know everything you can about the Great Wealth Transfer. To test your expertise and help you prepare, take our "Fact or Fiction" quiz.

More Trillion Dollar Talk

• An Expert's Guide to the Estate Planning Documents Everyone Needs
• Is Your Will 'Fair'? Estate Planning Is About More Than Money
• Why the 'Great Wealth Transfer' Could Leave Heirs With Less Retirement Money Than Expected
• Do Your Successful Kids Really Need an Inheritance?

A home is one of the most valuable assets many parents will eventually leave behind. It might also carry decades of memories, making it a particularly personal inheritance. But passing down a house isn't always as simple as handing over the keys.

Even a mortgage-free home comes with ongoing expenses, from property taxes and insurance to maintenance and repairs. When multiple children inherit a property, questions about whether to keep, sell or live in the home can make matters even more complicated.

You're not alone in facing these decisions. As the Great Wealth Transfer unfolds, baby boomers are expected to pass trillions of dollars in wealth to younger generations, and homes will be a significant part of that inheritance.

A record 340,000 U.S. homes were passed down through inheritance from August 2024 to August 2025, according to Cotality. If your home is likely to be part of that transfer, it's worth deciding what you want that inheritance to look like before your children are the ones left to figure it out.

Have you asked your children what they want?

The first conversation your children have about what to do with the family home shouldn't happen after you're gone. Talking about your plans now gives everyone an opportunity to be candid about what they would realistically want to do with the property and gives you time to adjust your estate plan if their expectations differ from yours.

I can tell you to have this conversation, but sitting down and having it is another matter. Our research suggests many families feel the same. In a new survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of Kiplinger for our Trillion Dollar Talk campaign, both parents and adult children ranked inheritance among the most uncomfortable family topics to discuss, second to sex and dating.

Yet when forced to choose between the two uncomfortable conversations, 71% of adult children said they'd rather talk with their parents about what they'll inherit than discuss sex and dating. Parents felt similarly: 79% said they'd rather discuss what their children will inherit.

While inheritance might not be an easy conversation, your children could be more willing to have it than you think. You don't need to settle your entire estate plan in one sitting.

Start with practical questions about the house. Would anyone live there? Would they prefer to sell it? If more than one child is involved, do they have different ideas about what should happen? These conversations might also uncover financial concerns you hadn't considered, such as whether someone could afford the ongoing costs of keeping the home.

Don't assume one conversation settles the matter permanently. A move, marriage, divorce, major renovation or change in finances can alter what's practical for you or your children. Revisit the plan periodically so that what you've put on paper continues to reflect what you and your family want. Once you've opened the conversation, these are the questions worth working through together.

1. Do your children want the house?

You might love your home and everything it represents, but that doesn't necessarily mean your children will want to keep it. Before making the house a central part of your estate plan, ask your children what they would realistically want to do with it.

Consider where they live and what their lives might look like when they inherit the property. A child who owns a home across the country might have little interest in moving back, while another might not want the financial responsibility of maintaining a second property.

Even if they don't plan to live there, they could face decisions about whether to rent it, maintain it as a vacation home or sell it. The longer those decisions drag on, the more likely the property is to become a financial burden or fall into disrepair.

In my years as a real estate agent, I worked with families who struggled to decide what to do with a home after someone passed away. The property held so many memories that selling it felt painful, but no one wanted to live there. Meanwhile, the bills kept coming, and the house continued to deteriorate.

The truth about what makes sense for a family home can hurt, but indecision has a cost, too. Wait too long, and you might find that time, money or the condition of the property has made the decision for you.

Sentimental attachment can also vary from one family member to another. You might see the house as an important part of your family's history, while your children might prefer to inherit assets that are easier to manage or divide. Having that conversation now gives everyone a chance to share their expectations and can help you avoid making plans based on assumptions.

2. Can they afford to keep it?

Even if your children want the house, the next question is whether they can realistically afford to keep it. A mortgage-free home isn't a free home. Property taxes, homeowners insurance, utilities, HOA fees, routine maintenance and major repairs can add up to thousands of dollars each year.

This is something I've thought about with my own home. It's the "big house" where our family gathers, and that makes it important to me. But my children aren't established yet, and the things that make the house great for a large family gathering could make it too much for one person or a small family to maintain. Leaving someone a valuable asset doesn't necessarily mean you're leaving them something they can comfortably afford.

That matters even more when the home represents a large share of what you're leaving behind. Kiplinger's Trillion Dollar Talk survey found that 33% of parents said real estate, including their home, would make up the greatest share of their children's inheritance.

For children who aren't yet financially established, an inheritance could have a big impact on their personal finances. The value tied up in a home could help them buy a home of their own, pay down debt, invest or build long-term financial security. But realizing that value requires a plan. Without one, heirs could instead find themselves responsible for a valuable property they can't afford to maintain or can't agree on what to do with it.

If you still have a mortgage, that adds another consideration. Your children could inherit the home, but the debt doesn't simply disappear. Talk through what keeping the house would cost, whether anyone could comfortably take on those expenses and what would happen if they couldn't. In some cases, selling a beloved family home might ultimately make more financial sense than struggling to keep it.

3. What happens if one child wants the home and another wants the money?

Leaving a home to multiple children can turn what seems like a straightforward inheritance into a complicated financial decision. One child might want to keep the family home, while another would rather sell and receive their share of the proceeds.

If one heir wants the property, consider whether they could realistically afford to buy out their siblings without putting themselves under financial strain.

For many parents, dividing an estate equally is the goal. Kiplinger and Morning Consult's Trillion Dollar Talk survey found that 71% of parents with more than one child intend to divide their assets equally among them. But an equal inheritance doesn't necessarily require dividing every asset into equal pieces. Parents can look at their other assets when deciding how to accomplish that.

For example, one child might inherit the home while another receives a larger share of savings, investments or life insurance proceeds. What's equal on paper might not always be what's most practical for your children, so think about both the value you're leaving each child and what inheriting each asset would mean for them.

For my family, I've decided I don't want my children to have to wrestle with what to do with our home or risk having the house become a source of disagreement. Our plan is for the home to be sold and the proceeds divided among them. The house has been where our family built memories together, but I'd rather its value help my children build dreams of their own.

Do your children understand the potential tax consequences?

Inheriting a home can come with tax implications, particularly if your children eventually sell it. Under current federal tax law, inherited property generally receives a "step-up" in cost basis to its fair market value as of the owner's date of death.

That can significantly reduce the capital gains taxes an heir might otherwise owe compared with receiving the home as a gift during the parent's lifetime.

For example, if you bought your home for $150,000 and it's worth $500,000 when your children inherit it, their cost basis would generally be stepped up to $500,000. If they soon sold it for about that amount, there might be little or no taxable capital gain. If they kept the house and later sold it for $600,000, however, the increase in value after they inherited it could potentially be taxable.

Federal taxes aren't the only consideration, and the rules can vary depending on how the property is transferred, when it's sold and where you live. Before deciding how to pass down a home, consider talking with an estate-planning attorney or tax professional who can explain how your plan could affect both your estate and your heirs.

Whatever you decide, make sure your estate documents can carry out those wishes. An estate-planning attorney can help you determine the best way to transfer the property or direct its sale under the laws in your state.

Make sure the house fits their future

As I get older, I'm starting to see my children in a different light. They're building lives and growing in directions I couldn't have predicted when they were younger. I want the inheritance I leave them to support that growth, not limit the choices they have about what comes next.

For my family, that means planning for our home to eventually be sold and the proceeds divided. But what's right for my family might not be right for yours. Keeping a beloved home in the family could be exactly what your children want, and it could become a place where another generation builds memories of its own.

The important thing is not to assume. Talk with your children about what the home means to them, what they would realistically want to do with it and whether they could afford the responsibilities that come with keeping it. Then make sure your estate plan reflects those conversations.

A family home can be an incredible legacy. Just make sure the legacy you're planning is one your children want.

More Trillion Dollar Talk

• What to Do With an Inherited House
• Manage an Inheritance Like a Pro in Just 7 Steps
• What Happens With Taxes When You Inherit a House

As the saying goes, there are only two certainties in life: Death and taxes. But when it comes to estate planning, many Americans are reluctant to spend time thinking about either.

According to a new survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of Kiplinger, only about 56% of parents admitted to having a conversation with their children about inheritance. That number drops to just 39% when you ask adult children whether they've had a discussion about family plans for passing on money and assets.

The lack of engagement and understanding is also stark when it comes to estate taxes, according to the survey. Roughly 40% of both children and parents say they're "not sure" whether taxes will apply to any inheritance plans.

Considering the U.S. is already in the beginning stages of the Great Wealth Transfer, in which members of the massive baby boomer demographic reach the end of their lives, this kind of procrastination with estate planning comes with a real cost. By some estimates, the collective fortune to be passed to younger generations tops well over $100 trillion in value.

Naturally, you want to ensure that your financial legacy stays in the hands of your loved ones, and doesn't get consumed by the Internal Revenue Service. Perhaps you're making arrangements for your own estate. Maybe you're overdue for such a plan and don't know where to start.

Whatever the case might be, take a few minutes for an introduction to the most tax-efficient ways to leave investments to your children.

1. Hold appreciated investments until death

A lot of research shows that the best strategy for investing is to buy and hold stocks for very long periods rather than actively trading in and out of fads. When it comes to tax planning, one of the best strategies for the stocks that have appreciated over the long-term is to hold them until the day you die.

According to IRS rules, heirs are frequently eligible for a "step-up" in cost basis to the asset's fair market value at the date of death. That has the potential to entirely eliminate capital gains taxes on a stock's appreciation over the original owner's lifetime.

Considering long-term capital gains can be 15% or more of the profits on a stock sale, this strategy of handing down the stock itself can result in significant cost savings.

If you've invested wisely and have big winners, one of the most tax-efficient ways to leave investments to your children is to not liquidate shares or to pass on the stock as a gift while you're still alive. Just let your heirs inherit the stock and do the selling directly.

2. Make your 401(k) and IRA beneficiaries your heirs

For many families, one of the biggest legacies they'll leave is the retirement funds in a tax-deferred retirement account such as a 401(k). As the term implies, the taxes on this money were deferred when originally invested. When withdrawals are made, the IRS is due its share.

The challenge is that withdrawals from such an account are taxed as "ordinary income," so a big one-time windfall results in a big tax bill. For example, current tax brackets include a 24% tax rate on anything above $105,701 — and a hefty 32% rate on anything above $201,776.

Because this ordinary income category includes an employer's paycheck, an heir who makes a decent living might find themselves in a steep tax bracket even if the distribution from your estate is relatively modest.

This is where adding heirs directly to your account can help. The IRS generally allows 10 years for nonspouse beneficiaries to liquidate an account such as a 401(k). As such, they can withdraw the money in smaller chunks on their own terms to maximize tax savings.

While there's no way to avoid taxes entirely on an inherited 401(k) or traditional IRA, this longer runway allows heirs to avoid a big one-time tax hit from a single distribution.