Do Not Leave a Legacy Caused by Your Failure to Act

Three somewhat related issues triggered this blog. They are getting a will, having a practice continuation agreement if there is a sole owner of a business or a buy-sell agreement if there are partners in the business.

Part of my job as a CPA (and of most CPAs) is dealing with the families of people who have passed and did not have these agreements. This is very important work, but it can be very hard and upsetting if the deceased was unprepared for the death (which is usually the situation). Then, the survivors find there was no will or arrangements for the business to continue or be sold or for the remaining partners to make reasonable or adequate payments for the shares of the deceased owner.

There are many other issues, but these have taken the forefront recently since a former colleague died with no will or arrangements for his practice, and the widow reached out to me for some advice. At the same time, I was talking with a colleague that asked me for some advice on the direction of his practice in adding advisory services and, in the course of the discussion and by way of example, I asked him about his will and the wills of his children for the provisions made for an untimely death in the family. Here are explanations of these two situations and hopefully you will not fall into such circumstances because you made suitable provisions. Alternatively, if you have not, use this as a wake-up call to get something done. Also, consider these two scenarios as extremes and imagine all the circumstances in between them.

I have been trying to console the widow while she has been receiving conflicting advice, with much of it naive, incorrect or uninformed. She has lost trust in the people she is dealing with and thinks “everyone” is taking advantage of her. The result of her husband’s inaction is that she has become alienated from many well-meaning friends, angry at most of the people she was dealing with, has already spent many hours of unproductive and dissipating time, will have spent much on what should have been avoidable and unnecessary professional fees and will end up with much less than she should have as her “inheritance.” She will also have been left a legacy of a much-diminished viewpoint of her husband. After all, his irresponsible neglect subjected her to all of the unpleasantness she is wasting part of her life on trying to create some semblance of order. A simple solution is to make sure you have a current will, a business continuation arrangement or a way to sell your solo-owned business or a buy-sell agreement if you have partners.

The second example arose when a colleague said, “You are embarrassing me. You are making me admit I do not have a will!” Irresponsible, self-centered neglect and inaction.

These are important issues, and while the deceased has no problems with any of this since they are “6 feet under,” their survivors will have what could have been easily avoidable problems if some simple and necessary arrangements were made.

There are many others affected by this inaction besides the surviving spouse. These include most immediate family members, people that might have been supported by the deceased, business partners, employees of the business and customers, vendors and other stakeholders and possibly charities somewhat supported by the deceased. It is also possible that the deceased person I described does not die but becomes unable to take care of their affairs. Making the proper arrangements and having the appropriate documents in place will make your life a lot easier and will help everyone around you when you are no longer able to care for them. It will also reduce your own stress level since you would know you did the best you could for everyone around you.

Get it done! Don’t leave a legacy of embarrassment, shame, costs, and problems caused by your failure to do something relatively easy.

See this prior blog for getting started with a will.