More than a week ago, a stateof emergency was declared on the home front, and since then the entire publicin Israel has been required to cope with a complex and threatening reality:long sleepless nights, a heavy emotional burden, and a continuous series ofchallenges affecting daily life, family, and work.
Adv. Tal Kaufman, Partner and Head of the Wealth Management and Intergenerational Transfer Department at our firm, shared her thoughts and recommendations for strengthening personal and family resilience during days of war and uncertainty, offering both a professional and human perspective that may help each of us navigate this time with greater stability and awareness.
Planning for intergenerationa transfer requires personal and family resilience even in ordinary times. I see this clearly in conversations with couples and within broader family circles. During wartime especially when personal and emotional security are shaken the challenges intensify: people remain confined to their homes; older adults are required to stay in protected spaces, sometimes far from their usual place of residence; some live alone or with a foreign care giver who has suddenly found themselves in an unfamiliar emergency situation. At the same time, adult children are less available torn between caring for their own children and worrying about their parents.
When drafting wills andenduring powers of attorney, I always explain that this process includes major unknowns: we do not know whether we will grow old with full cognitive clarity,we do not know when we will die, and we do not know what the scope of our assets will be in the future.
In the initial meetings ofthese processes, it becomes clear that beyond decisions about the distributionof assets after death, there is another significant barrier and it is notrelated to property at all.
For example, when drafting advance directives within an enduring power of attorney, it is often the personal and medical aspects that raise the most hesitation. New considerationsemerge, questions that have never been discussed arise, gaps between familymembers become apparent, and there is a need to decide which issues should beaddressed in family conversations and how to formulate clear instructions. At times, disagreements surface between parents and their children aroundquestions such as: where should a person live if they require nursing care at home? In an appropriate care facility? Close to one of their children? Or perhaps in their existing home, adapted to their physical condition?
In an era where life expectancy continues to increase not always accompanied by full health or cognitive clarity I find that the processes of preparing enduring powers ofattorney and wills can become empowering family processes that bring people closer together and cement family bonds.
Family dialogue creates awareness among adult children of their parents’ mindset,preferences, and wishes. The current war and the state of emergency we areexperiencing further highlight the importance of building certainty andsupporting personal and family resilience through these processes.
During this period, think about your aging parents: call them, listen carefully to their needs,understand what matters to them, what kind of support they wish to receive, and where they feel most comfortable staying. This is an important conversation inordinary times and even more meaningful in moments like these.
