How Does an Ethical Will Relate to an Estate Plan?

Ethical wills are complementary to legal estate plan components such as wills, trusts, and advance directives. While these documents indicate the distribution of assets, guardianship of dependents, and preferences to be honored at the end of life, the ethical will helps to impart the emotional, psychological, and spiritual legacy of the person who died. It conveys personal values, hopes, lessons learned, and even the reasoning behind some decisions. It is becoming increasingly common for legal professionals to recommend storing ethical will letters, audio, and video recordings with the traditional legal documents necessary for an estate plan. 

While an estate plan can indicate who should receive assets, an ethical will may provide more context as to why some decisions were made, and this can reduce the overall confusion among surviving beneficiaries. Ethical wills may include important information about family histories, cultural or spiritual beliefs, or personal advice, which can impart values-based guidance that isn’t typically attainable through the legal paperwork attributed to the traditional estate plan. Additionally, the personal stories and expressions of gratitude or acknowledgement of regrets sometimes included in ethical wills can provide a sense of comfort and closure that generally isn’t achieved through the distribution of material assets. 

The information contained in an ethical will shouldn’t contradict other components of the estate plan, and certain aspects of what is communicated in the ethical will should be mirrored in other documents. For example, if an ethical will reflects that a certain family member should receive a specific item and explains the reasoning for it, this wish can only be honored if the legal will also indicates that the person should receive the item. Ethical wills are not legally binding, which means that any designation of who should receive which assets must be indicated directly in the legal will. Ultimately, the presence of an ethical will in an estate plan helps to transform it from a plan of transactional directives to valuable guidance resulting from a clearly defined and established legacy.

Sources

“Ethical Wills: Passing on Your Beliefs, Values, and Life Experiences”. Relational Estate and Elder Law. https://relational.law/practice-areas/ethical-wills/ 

“Navigating Ethical Issues in Estate Planning”. Trust & Will. https://trustandwill.com/learn/ethics-and-estate-planning 

“Ethical Considerations for Estate Planning”. Thapar Law. https://www.thaparlaw.com/practice-areas/estate-planning/ethical-considerations-for-estate-planning/