AFTER years of paying off debt, establishing an emergency fund, growing investments, and planning for retirement, many people still overlook one critical step in building generational wealth — preserving the wealth they’ve worked so hard to accumulate.

“When people embark on asset accumulation, estate planning is the missing link,” said lawyer and CEO of Global Immigration Services Jamaica, Yanique Russell.

Speaking at the Caribbean Investment Showcase in Canada, Russell said generations of Caribbean families have spent decades building homes, businesses and investments, only for those assets to become tied up in disputes or depleted after death because no estate plan was in place. Quoting Proverbs 13:22, she reminded attendees that “a good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children”.

“But even if you don’t want to entrench it in biblical principles, come on, you absolutely want to leave something for your kids and their kids,” she said.

The first step is documenting your wishes. That means building a team of professionals including a lawyer, accountant, and certified financial planner or adviser. But at the centre of any estate plan is a will.

While many people mistakenly believe they need a separate will for every country where they own property or investments, Russell explained that in many cases one properly drafted will can cover assets in multiple countries. However, recognition and administration of the will will depend on the laws of each jurisdiction and may require additional legal steps.

One of the biggest misconceptions, however, is that wills are only for the wealthy, causing many people to delay writing one until it’s too late.

“I hear this so often: ‘I don’t have anything. —I don’t own a car, I don’t own a home.’ Or maybe, ‘All I have is just some money in the bank,’ “ Russell said.

But even if an estate is modest, dying without a will means losing control over how its assets are distributed. Under Jamaican law, the estate is divided according to intestacy rules rather than the deceased’s personal wishes. A surviving spouse and children may share the estate while parents, siblings, and other relatives may inherit where there is no surviving spouse or child.

A person claiming as a common law spouse may also qualify to inherit if the statutory requirements are met, including that both partners were single and had lived together as spouses for at least five years immediately before the death. The surviving partner will generally need a court declaration confirming that status.

Russell also urged people who are separated but not legally divorced to finalise the process, warning that a marriage continues to have legal consequences until a divorce is completed.

She added that estate planning isn’t just about avoiding family disputes. Done early, it also gives people greater control over how their wealth is transferred and, depending on the jurisdiction, reduces taxes and legal costs through trusts, joint ownership or other arrangements.

While many people leave conversations about estate planning convinced they should write a will, too often they put it off.

“If you’re building with one hand but you’re using the next hand to destroy the preparation, destroy all the hard work by not having your estate plan set up, then all of this would be for naught,” said Russell. “Please, let us not have a situation where your loved ones are exhausting the assets of the estate to fight in court. I see this every single day.”

RUSSELL…if you’re building with one hand but you’re using the next hand to destroy the preparation, destroy all the hard work by not having your estate plan set up, then all of this would be for naught.