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In some cases, beneficiaries will already have discussed the estate plan extensively. For instance, an elderly parent may have had family conversations with all of their children and their spouse. Anyone who is planning to inherit already knows what the estate contains and roughly what they should expect.

But this does not always happen, as many people consider estate planning and financial matters to be rather private. In that case, beneficiaries can sometimes be surprised to learn that the estate contains more wealth than they anticipated.

How could this happen?

It all depends on the type of assets that the person owns and how they utilize them. In some cases, people have extensive financial assets, but this won’t really be reflected in their lifestyle. They’re not using their money to buy bigger homes, more cars or other frivolous possessions. They may actually be rather wealthy, but an outsider would think they are just living an average, middle-class lifestyle.

There are many different examples of these more complex assets, such as investment portfolios, stock options, business ownership percentages, money held in overseas accounts, mutual funds, bonds, life insurance policies and even things like cryptocurrency.

Could this be a problem?

In some cases, the sudden discovery of additional wealth could lead to estate disputes and conflicts between the beneficiaries. This is especially true if the person dies intestate, meaning that there’s not an estate plan at all and the beneficiaries have to work with the estate executor to make these decisions. They may not all agree on how that wealth should be divided. Those involved in such a complex situation need to be aware of their legal options.