California parents with multiple children might have to face more complications than single-child parents. When your children are young, you might be inclined to split up your estate between all children equally.
As your children become adults though, you might realize that they don’t all have the same needs or wants. In those cases, you might have doubts that an equal inheritance would be beneficial for your children.
When does equal inheritance make sense?
In an equal inheritance, your assets and belongings are just split between all children evenly. If all children have the same needs, wants and footing in life as adults, then it makes sense to give them an equal inheritance.
When should you consider giving more or less to a child?
If your children have different needs and situations, then you might consider rearranging the way your assets are divided. For example, if one child has student loans and the other child got help, you might consider altering what they get.
If one of your children has a disability or is otherwise impaired, then they’ll also need different payouts in regard to inheritance. If one child is taking care of a disabled sibling, you might consider giving them a larger inheritance as well.
You also need to consider what the financial standing of all your children is at the time of creating or editing your estate plan. It might not make sense to give your child who has a high-paying job a hefty inheritance if your other children aren’t as well off.
How to split your estate fairly?
There are a lot of questions that come with creating an estate plan for multiple children. As your children become adults, it’s important to have these conversations with your children together and individually to make sure they’re taken care of after you’re gone.