Beneficiary Education: Helping Estate Plans Work Over Time
- by Paul Edelman, PhD, PCC and Martin M. Shenkman, Esq.
Families often devote substantial time and thought to creating an estate plan. They consider how assets should be held, who should serve as trustees or other fiduciaries, how family members will be protected, and how wealth might support future generations.
The people who will eventually live with those structures may receive far less preparation.
Beneficiaries may encounter a trust for the first time when they receive a notice, request a distribution, or begin interacting with a trustee. Without some understanding of why the trust was created, how decisions are made, and what responsibilities accompany access to wealth, even a carefully designed plan can become a source of confusion or frustration.
Beneficiary education can begin gradually. Families do not have to disclose every financial detail in order to help rising-generation family members understand trusts, fiduciary roles, financial decision-making, governance, and stewardship.
In this article, Martin Shenkman and I explore how families can make education part of the estate planning process and help beneficiaries develop the understanding they will need as their roles evolve.
When Beneficiary Education Becomes a Family Priority
Beneficiary education is most useful when it is tailored to the family, the planning structures involved, and the roles family members may eventually be asked to assume.
I work with families and family enterprises to design and facilitate beneficiary and rising-generation education around trusts, financial decision-making, governance, stewardship, and family roles. I am also a Certified Wealth Education Facilitator through Tamarind Learning.
The work can range from a single facilitated conversation to a more structured learning process developed with the family and its advisers.
If you would like to discuss what beneficiary education might look like for your family, please feel free to contact me.
*This article was originally published in the October 2026 issue of Estate Planning, a Thomson Reuters journal. The citation for the article is 53 Est. Pln. 20 (October 2026).