Planning Matters: Defining the Multigenerational Family Mission
Many affluent families desire to preserve their wealth for the continuing benefit of their descendants and philanthropic causes rather than having their estates simply divided and distributed among beneficiaries. Planning for this type of long-term “legacy” generally focuses on tax and legal estate planning techniques. While these techniques are important, they may not address fundamental concerns such as: How will our wealth affect our heirs’ core values? Will our heirs be responsible stewards? Will they be able to work together to preserve our legacy for its intended purposes? Families can often find it difficult to initiate a basic dialogue with future heirs regarding family estate planning issues, let alone raise these types of concerns.
For heirs, the rewards of preserving a shared legacy can include greater investment opportunities, more control over business and entrepreneurial ventures, the ability to make a more significant philanthropic impact, and enhanced family continuity and sense of community. With responsible stewardship, each generation can pass the family legacy on to the next. But the diverse individual needs and interests of an evolving family can potentially lead to conflicts or mismanagement, or otherwise cause a legacy to be dissipated. The task for a family that wishes to successfully sustain a shared multigenerational legacy is to identify a unifying purpose and mission and develop leadership in each generation to steward the legacy according to this shared mission.
With responsible stewardship, each generation can pass the family legacy on to the next.
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