What Is a Letter of Intent in Estate Planning?

You may agree that estate planning documents, like a will and trust, are critical. However, you may still feel they cannot do enough to capture the true essence of your personal wishes, intentions, and guidance for those needing it the most. Namely, those involved in making your estate plan happen in the first place, along with those who are meant to benefit from it. Well, you may easily relieve this concern by writing a letter of intent. Please continue reading to learn more about a letter of intent and how one of the experienced Butler County estate planning attorneys at Heritage Elder Law & Estate Planning, LLC, can assist you in writing a helpful and purposeful one.

What is the purpose of a letter of intent in estate planning?

Essentially, a letter of intent is a non-legal document meant to accompany other legally-binding estate planning documents, such as wills and trusts. Many testators use this letter as an opportunity to deliver personal messages to the beneficiaries they leave behind. That is, you may emphasize the values you upheld throughout your lifetime and how you wish for your loved ones to carry out this legacy in the future. After all, there is no real room for such personalization and emotional language in these other legal documents.

But more importantly, testators may use this letter to clarify their intentions behind these other legal documents. That is, they may provide guidance for the executor of your will or the trustee of your trust, all while assuring your beneficiaries that your estate is being handled in the exact way you wanted. Testators may get as specific as identifying the preferred guardian of their minor child and the favored organization to make charitable donations to. Also, the exact dates and timelines for estate distribution to specific beneficiaries, for example.

How can a letter of intent create more issues and disputes?

To reiterate, a letter of intent is meant to clarify what is already set out in a will, trust, or other estate planning document. Meaning that a testator cannot use it to modify terms and conditions that they have already enforced. When this letter becomes contradictory in this way, it may create great confusion amongst your executor, trustee, and beneficiaries. Inevitably, conflicts may arise. A better practice for adjusting a will, specifically, is drafting a codicil or creating an entirely new will while revoking the existing one.

Here, some of your beneficiaries may feel they would have benefited more from the instructions left in the letter than from the estate planning document. When this occurs, they may be inclined to litigate it before a Pennsylvania probate court. However, at the end of the day, the court will make its final ruling based on whatever is stated in the legally binding estate planning document.  This outcome may still not alleivate the grievances and tensions that festered amongst your loved ones during their back-and-forth debates, unfortunately.

And so, it is best to have an attorney involved in your letter of intent to ensure it provides clarification rather than contradiction. There is no need to go through the important process of writing down your estate plans alone. Please seek the support and assistance of one of the skilled Butler County estate planning attorneys. Contact Heritage Elder Law & Estate Planning, LLC today.