How to Set Family Legacy Goals Together
Build a shared family vision. Our digital guide provides a step-by-step framework to help your family define and document your collective legacy goals together.
How to Set Family Legacy Goals Together
February 10, 2026
Involving family in legacy planning isn’t just about who gets what—it’s about why the legacy exists, who helps carry it forward, and how the digital, legal and emotional layers all align. This article is your comprehensive playbook for setting legacy objectives together as a family, turning shared values into documented goals, linking them to legal instruments (wills, trusts, advance directives) and digital assets, and using a secure digital legacy vault (such as Evaheld Vault) to hold everything in one structured, accessible place.
We’ll cover:
- Values discovery & shared purpose
- A SMART-goal framework adapted for legacy planning
- A sample family meeting agenda + facilitation tips
- Documentation workflows: who captures minutes, where files go, permissions
- Linkage of goals with estate instruments (ethical wills, guardianship notes, charitable bequests)
- A quarterly review cadence
- Conflict-prevention practices (especially for blended families)
Plus downloadable-style checklists inside (agenda, goals canvas, roles matrix) and a “first 7 days” action plan to get from talk to documented outcomes in your vault.
We draw on authoritative sources: the National Institute on Aging (NIA) on advance care planning (advance-care-planning), Australia’s Family Relationships Online (supporting family communication) (familyrelationships.gov.au), the American Psychological Association (APA) on families & relationships (https://www.apa.org/), the Advance Care Planning Australia site (toolkits for values & directives) (advancecareplanning.org.au), and the American Bar Association (ABA) Real Property Trust & Estate section on estate planning fundamentals (americanbar.org).
1. Values Discovery & Shared Purpose
Why start here
Before you ever draft a will or open a digital vault, you need to clarify: What do we, as a family, want our legacy to stand for? The NIA emphasises that advance care planning begins with clarifying values and priorities. National Institute on Aging+1
Legacy isn’t just assets and instructions — it’s identity, culture, purpose, and continuity. For effective legacy goals, your family must align on why: what matters most, what future you hope to leave, what roles each generation plays.
Documenting the shared purpose
Once you’ve discussed and agreed, draft a sentence:
“Our family legacy is about [value-word(s)] and will focus on [contribution/impact] while caring for each other and preserving our stories.”
Upload this document (PDF) into your vault in folder 01-LegacyPurpose. Name it Shared Legacy Purpose – v1 – YYYY-MM-DD.
Meet your Legacy Assistant — Charli Evaheld is here to guide you through your free Evaheld Legacy Vault so you can create, share, and preserve everything that matters — from personal stories and care wishes to legal and financial documents — all in one secure place, for life.
2. SMART Goals Adapted for Legacy Planning
Legacy planning goals need to be specific, measurable, realistic—and yet flexible for life changes.
Legacy Goals Canvas (Download-style)
- Goal Title: ______________________
- Purpose (linked to values): ______________________
- Target (what will be achieved): ______________________
- Metrics (how will we measure): ______________________
- Lead Person & Team: ______________________
- Deadline: ______________________
- Review Date: ______________________
- Resource Needed: ______________________
Example:
Goal Title: Digital Legacy Vault Launch
Purpose: Ensure our story and values are preserved across generations.
Target: Upload 100 family heritage items + assign roles + set permissions.
Metrics: Count of items; access rights established; executor tutorial done.
Lead Person: Child A (vault administrator)
Deadline: 2026-06-30
Review Date: 2026-06-30
Resource: Vault subscription + family scanning day
Establish 3-5 such goals: e.g., estate instrument update, charitable bequest design, intergenerational mentorship program.
3. Sample Family Meeting Agenda & Facilitation Tips
Agenda (1.5 hours)
- Opening (5 min): reaffirm purpose & ground rules
- Values recap (10 min): review shared purpose document
- Goal presentation (15 min): present SMART goals canvas
- Role assignment (10 min): identify leads, backups
- Legal/instrument linkage (10 min): overview of documents (will, trusts, directives)
- Digital vault demo (10 min): structure, permissions, access
- Blended family / tricky areas preview (10 min): pre-empt conflict
- Q&A + concerns (15 min)
- Review schedule for next quarter (5 min)
- Closing (5 min): reaffirm commitment and next steps
Facilitation tips
- Send agenda and prep materials (values canvas, vault link) at least a week ahead.
- Use a neutral facilitator (could be a trusted adviser or elder relative) to manage blend-family dynamics. Government family-services pages highlight the role of structured communication in preventing conflict. InfoSenior
- Use a visible timer for each segment to keep momentum.
- Encourage quieter members to speak first—avoid dominance by one person.
- Record meeting (with consent) and upload to Meeting Notes folder in vault.
Take clear minutes (sample workflow below).
Protect your legacy with ease — create and securely store your will with Evaheld’s free online will maker in the Evaheld Legacy Vault, and share it safely with family or your legal adviser in minutes
4. Documentation Workflows: Minutes, File Location & Permissions
File and Folder Structure (recommended)
/00-SharedPurpose
/01-LegacyGoals
/02-DigitalEstate
/DigitalAssetsInventory.xlsx
/03-CareDocuments
/AdvanceDirectives.pdf
/04-LegalInstruments
/Will_v2_2025-10-24.pdf
/05-MemoryVault
/Videos
/Photos
/06-MeetingNotes
/2025-10-24_FamilyMeeting_Minutes.pdf
Meeting Minutes Workflow
- Designated minute-taker records during meeting (or from recording)
- Format: Date, Participants, Decisions/Assignments, Deadlines, Next Review
- Upload PDF to /06-MeetingNotes folder
- Lead triggers email to participants with: “Minutes uploaded here: [link]”
- Permissions: All adult children read-access; lead/edit rights for roles as per matrix
- Version label: v1, v2 (if edits); old versions archived in subfolder Archive.
Permissions Best Practices
- Own device set to MFA access.
- Adults as readers: encourage them to confirm they can log in.
- Executor access: read-only until trigger event (incapacity or death) when edit rights escalate.
- Share a printed Emergency Access Card listing the vault link/QR, and main contact (Lead/Admin) in case of outage.
5. Integrating Goals with Estate Instruments
Link goals → legal instruments
- If your goal is “support grandchildren’s education”, ensure your will/trust reflects that charitable/family legacy. The ABA states estate-planning must reflect your goals, asset structure and family dynamics. American Bar Association+1
- If your goal includes digital legacy (photos, online accounts), integrate with online will maker outputs and specify in your estate documents how digital inheritance is handled.
- Care and capacity goals: link your SMART goal to your advance directives and healthcare proxy appointments. NIA emphasises the link between values → directives. National Institute on Aging
- Guardianship notes: if a goal includes “care legacy” for vulnerable family members, include guardianship instructions or trustee notes in your LegalInstruments folder.
- Ethical will / legacy letter: a non-legal but powerful piece — upload under MemoryVault and reference it in the goal for “preserving stories”.
Summary
By working together to set family legacy goals, you shift legacy planning from siloed documents into a shared, purposeful, multi-generational enterprise. You start with values, translate them into SMART goals, structure meetings, manage documentation workflows, link to estate/legal instruments, review quarterly, and deploy conflict-prevention tactics. Use a digital legacy vault as the nervous system of the plan—where shared purpose, goals, legal files, digital assets and memory vaults reside.
You’re not just planning for “what happens when” you’re planning for “what lives on”. Take the first 7 days, set the infrastructure, involve the people, and commit to the rhythm. Your legacy becomes less about tokens and more about continuity, trust, and clarity.
Let me know if you’d like me to generate a downloadable toolkit (PDF) with the agenda, goals canvas, roles matrix and first-7-days checklist ready to fill out.
Planning your will isn’t just about assets — it’s about protecting people, values, and clarity for those you love. Alongside preparing your legal documents, explore advance care planning resources to ensure your healthcare wishes are understood, and find gentle guidance for dementia support when planning for long-term wellbeing. Reflect on what truly matters through family legacy preservation resources, and digitise your legacy with a digital legacy vault that your loved ones can trust.
When the time comes to discuss your decisions, explore nurse information and care advice, and see how advance health directive tools help formalise your choices. For those seeking remembrance, discover thoughtful online tribute options, and read about great digital family legacy tools that make it easy. Begin early, act clearly, and protect your family’s future — peace of mind starts with preparation.
Made with love by the Holistic Legacy Hub