What do physicians owe their kids?

Lloyd LoCascio, MD, and his wife, Cheryl, were determined to make sure their daughters grew up with strong values around money, and to protect them as much as possible, even if something happened to the couple.

“We had a son with severe medical problems who died when he was three and a half,” says Lloyd, a radiologist in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a partner in a large group practice. “During his illness we began thinking that if something happened to us we need to make sure [our children were] taken care of, so we started estate planning.”

At the same time, however, the LoCascios wanted to avoid the familiar scenario of wealthy parents doing so much for their kids that, as adults, the children lack ambition and independence.

Are female physicians leaving money on the (operating room) table?

Regardless of salary differentials, physicians in virtually every specialty feel compelled to help their adult children, but how much is too much? Is there more to estate planning than simply avoiding inheritance taxes? Before putting an estate-planning attorney on the clock, it’s important to think about the financial legacy you want your children to inherit, which has to do as much with financial habits and priorities as it does with taxes and trusts.

“A lot of children are somewhat coddled nowadays, to the point where they expect everything and it comes without a grain of sweat,” LoCascio says. “I wanted my kids to know that the things my wife and I have now, we worked very hard to get them. As the kids get older, we want them to have some skin in the game.”

Internal server error