How Are Estate Planning and Legacy Planning Different?
Estate plans and legacy plans both addresses the distribution of assets upon a person’s death. Only a legacy plan, however, addresses how those assets might be put to use in ways that support the values of the deceased person who amassed the assets through their hard work and the belief system they espoused. An estate plan might leave a sum of money to the deceased person’s child, and that child could use the money in any way they choose, even if what they choose to use it on would be something that the decedent would not approve of.
In a legacy plan, however, the funds can be directed to activities and purchases that the decedent has approved while alive. For example, a person who inherits through an estate plan might spend the money they receive on drugs, or gambling, even if they knew that the relative who gave them the funds would not approve. With a legacy plan, however, the relative in question could have used a legacy plan to restrict the money to be used only for education or could have released only a certain portion of the full amount each year, instead of the lump sum all at once, for example. A legacy plan could also restrict the heir from receiving the funds until they reach a certain age, while a basic will could not.
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