Culturally Competent Estate Planning

Culturally competent estate planning is an important component in my law practice. I believe that it is a vast and complex issue that, if not handled appropriately, may lead to higher risk that a person’s wishes will not be properly expressed at the end-of-life transition and in the distribution of a person’s estate at death.

Elders and immigrants from collectivistic cultural backgrounds may have different expectations than the children they raised under the westernized system. These are new circumstances that the generations before them might not have needed to address, but certainly needs to be addressed, especially in the end-of-life context. It also means that navigating these different circumstances, times, and generational differences may involve culturally competent estate planners as a conduit to the dynamics between the older and younger generation. I believe that effective estate planning in this context can lead to increased satisfaction at during the end-of-life transition, including the distribution of an estate that is in accordance with one’s wishes at death.

I believe that estate planning is a conscious, structured way to stay connected to family during difficult times, especially with our continuous social and cultural changes. To learn more about this topic, please view the following article I wrote that was recently published in the WSBA NWSidebar here.