ACTEC Trust & Estate Talk How Cultural Awareness Improves Estate Planning Outcomes
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Jan 20, 2026 Terry Franklin, a trust and estates litigator and ACTEC Fellow, shares his insights on how cultural awareness can enhance estate planning. He highlights the historical barriers that African Americans face in pursuing these services, emphasizing the importance of communication tailored to clients' cultural backgrounds. Franklin explores the significance of education and non-property wealth as protective assets, and discusses the long-standing impact of policies like redlining on the racial wealth gap. He advocates for using estate planning as a means to foster intergenerational wealth within marginalized communities.
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Structural Roots Of The Racial Wealth Gap
- Historical laws and policies created structural barriers that produced the racial wealth gap affecting African Americans' ability to accumulate property.
- Recognizing this context helps estate planners avoid blaming individuals and reframes planning as corrective and empowering.
Personal Drive Behind The Article
- Terry Franklin recounts his motivation writing an article titled 'Black Deaths Should Matter Too' to explore why African Americans underutilize estate planning.
- He links that gap to cultural memory and legal barriers that made property insecure for generations.
Historical Family Examples Of Loss
- Franklin cites stories from The Plunder of Black America illustrating family-level losses like extra taxes and forced payments for freedom.
- He contrasts those costs with the massive wealth extracted from Black families over generations.
