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Passing Down Family Values: Ways to Share More Than Wealth

Reading Time: 6 minutes

family happily celebrating an occasion at the dinner table

Estate planning often focuses on how financial assets and property will be passed down. But families may want to pass down more than assets alone.

They may also want future generations to understand:

  • The values and principles that guided the family
  • The money stories and lessons learned along the way
  • The hopes they have for children, grandchildren, and future generations
  • The purposes they hope their wealth will continue to serve
Download Your Family Legacy Charter

Capturing those ideas in writing can help preserve an important part of a family’s story. A Family Legacy Charter provides one way to do it.

What is a Family Legacy Charter?

A Family Legacy Charter is a personal, non-legal document that captures the values, experiences, priorities, and intentions a family wants future generations to understand.

Unlike a will or trust, which generally address how assets will be owned, managed, or distributed, a legacy charter helps transfer more of the story behind those plans — including what shaped the family’s decisions and what family members hope to carry forward.

A Family Legacy Charter does not take the place of a will, trust, or other estate-planning document. Instead, it can complement them by preserving information and perspectives those documents typically do not address.

Why put family values and intentions in writing?

Preserve financial life lessons that might otherwise be lost.
Families often develop their views about money through years of experience — including successes, sacrifices, challenges, and opportunities. Recording those background experiences can give future generations a better understanding of the family’s approach to money and wealth.
Make important conversations easier to start.
Topics such as inheritance, charitable giving, family responsibilities, property, and expectations for future generations are not always easy to bring up. A written charter can provide a starting point for those conversations and give family members an opportunity to share their perspectives and get valuable feedback.
Give future generations context.
Financial and estate-planning documents may explain what has been decided, but not necessarily the thinking behind those decisions. A legacy charter can help preserve that context so future family members better understand the values and intentions that helped shape the plan.

How to complete a Family Legacy Charter

There is no single way to complete a Family Legacy Charter. Some people may prefer to reflect on the questions privately, while others may want to work through them together.

Begin by deciding who should be part of the conversation. Depending on the family, that might include a spouse or partner, adult children, grandchildren, or other relatives who should have a voice in the family’s legacy.

Families might then choose to:
  • 1 Set aside time to work through the charter together.
  • Complete portions individually before meeting to compare and discuss responses.
  • Ask one or two family members to prepare a first draft and invite others to contribute.
  • Revisit the charter periodically as the family, its priorities, and its circumstances change.

A financial professional can also help facilitate the discussion, ask questions that encourage deeper conversations, and connect your family’s priorities with broader financial and estate-planning goals.

You do not have to answer every question or complete the charter in one sitting. The process itself can help start conversations your family can continue — and return to — as circumstances and generations change.

Start your Family Legacy Charter

United Life has created a Family Legacy Charter to help you get started. It includes prompts designed to help your family capture the stories, values, goals, and priorities you want future generations to understand and carry forward.
Download Your Family Legacy Charter

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