Communication about finances between family, spouses still is a problem for retirement planning. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Families contemplating the leaving or receiving of an inheritance, and partners contemplating retirement after the death of one partner, still have a lot of room for improvement around communicating their intentions or securing a partner's future.

So says a Hearts & Wallets study, which highlights the fact that while people leaving an inheritance might want to talk about it more than they have already, beneficiaries can be reluctant to raise the topic for fear of seeming greedy—although they'd like to know more about what lies ahead.

More people are expecting to get or to leave an inheritance, or in fact have already gotten one. Some have already had discussions about wealth transfers—whether via inheritance or partner planning so that the death of a partner does not leave the survivor financially stranded. But many more have not, or have not addressed enough of the questions surrounding the issue to answer the concerns of beneficiaries.