SPECIAL FROM Next Avenue By Lori R. Sackler Avoid family strife down the road by holding key conversations about your estate plans -- now "Wh...

Divvying up personal possessions among adult children or other loved ones is a task that many parents dread. Deciding who should get what without showing favoritism, hurting someone's feelings or causing a feud can be difficult, even for close-knit families.

If you have a simple, straightforward estate and an uncomplicated family situation, writing your own will -- with the help of a good do-it-yourself guide -- is a viable alternative to hiring an attorney.

An ethical will can be a valuable complement to your legal will, as well as a wonderful gift to your family or other loved ones.

In her book Storytelling & the Art of Imagination, author Nancy Mellon writes, "Storytelling gives us love and courage for life ... storytelling puts ...

My friend Jim Flanagan in New Jersey always said he planned to live to be 100 and die with one shiny nickel left to his name. His four children -- and...

The resistance to the process is as logistical as it is ontological, because estate planning is linked to the unpleasant task of death planning, and who wants to think about that? But when children come into the picture parents often enter the Kingdom of Anxiety, and concerns about what we leave behind are harder to sweep under the carpet.

When you write your will, you have to cover every eventuality. What if you and your spouse die in an accident, who will look after your kids? What if you are all killed in an accident?