The biggest hurdles in passing wealth to the next generation are often personal rather than financial, according to new research from Wells Fargo Wealth & Investment Management. The study found sharp differences in how parents and their adult children view inheritance, family communication, estate planning and financial preparedness.
The 2026 Wealth Transfer Study, conducted by Versta Research, surveyed 817 Baby Boomer parents and 787 adult children from Gen X and the Millennial generation, all from families with at least $1 million in investable assets. Affluent families in the study held an average of $3.7 million.
The gap starts with conflict. Some 61% of adult children report negative family experiences tied to inherited wealth, from hurt feelings and arguments about fairness to estrangement and legal disputes, compared with 29% of parents. Almost half of adult children (49%) believe inheritance conversations could trigger family conflict, against 20% of parents.
Conversations that never happen
Both generations agree that talking about inheritance matters. More than eight in ten adult children (82%) say such discussions would help them prepare for the future, and 80% of parents believe conversations about money help younger generations make better financial decisions. Yet 57% of adult children wish there were more transparency about money in their families, and 42% say finances remain a topic that is often avoided.
More than three-quarters of parents say they are comfortable discussing their wealth-transfer plans, but only 21% have had detailed conversations about their estate plans with their children, and nearly a third (29%) have had little or no meaningful discussion at all.
Each side worries about sending the wrong message. A majority of adult children (61%) fear that raising the subject would make them seem to want their parents' wealth. Parents, meanwhile, are unsure how much to disclose (32%) or worry about demotivating their children (25%), fostering entitlement (22%) or sharing plans that may change (20%). Heather Hunt-Ruddy, Central Divisional leader at Wells Fargo Advisors, described the result as a stalemate in which important conversations are postponed indefinitely.
Plans exist, but are not shared
Nearly all parents (93%) say they know how much wealth they expect to pass on, and 79% have set that amount out in a written financial plan. Yet only 54% of adult children say they have been told how much they are likely to inherit. While 81% of parents say they have all the necessary estate-planning documents in place, only 66% of adult children believe this is the case, and 44% of parents with complete documents admit they do not fully understand what their estate plan does. More than one in five adult children do not know whether they have been named executor or trustee (22%) or given power of attorney (22%).
The gap is widest in family businesses. Two-thirds (67%) of business owners' adult children expect the business to pass to them or their siblings, but fewer than one in five owners (19%) plan to transfer ownership to their children. Many expect to sell to an outside buyer (24%) or gradually wind the business down (36%), a 48-percentage-point gap between the generations.
Advisers and values
Adult children also want a seat at the table with their parents' advisers. More than eight in ten (84%) say speaking with that adviser would help them feel more prepared, and 83% would feel more confident if the adviser kept working with them after their parents are gone. Only around a third of parents (34%) say their adviser has met their adult children, and just 14% say those meetings happen regularly.
On one point the generations agree: 86% of parents and 84% of adult children say the most important thing passed from one generation to the next is values, not money. Lorne Maltenfort, national director of Private Wealth Planning at Wells Fargo Wealth & Investment Management, said the challenge for many families is not a lack of planning but a lack of shared understanding, and that documents alone do not create preparedness.
Source: Wells Fargo via Business Wire.
This post originally appeared here.
