How Does Estate Planning Help Avoid Family Disputes?
You may assume crafting an estate plan is too much of a hassle. Plus, you may not be too keen on persistently thinking about a time when you are no longer around your family. However, your family may already have to go through enough upon your unfortunate passing. So for their sake, it is best to have an estate plan in place. With all that being said, please continue reading to learn how estate planning can work to avoid potential family disputes and how one of the experienced Butler County estate planning & probate attorneys at Heritage Elder Law & Estate Planning, LLC can help keep the peace.
How does estate planning help avoid potential family disputes?
Overall, your estate plan functions to instruct exactly which of your assets will be distributed to certain family members (i.e., your named beneficiaries) at the time of your unfortunate death. The directions being set out in black and white is a far better alternative than simply entering verbal agreements with your individual family members. This is because it may quickly turn into a game of “he said, she said.” And since you will no longer be around, and there is unlikely a witness to these conversations, there may be no means to resolve it.
Secondly, your estate plan allows you to declare a neutral third party, not one of your named beneficiaries, to distribute your assets in a certain way. This is instead of leaving this job up to one of your family members, who may be vulnerable to accusations of being greedy by taking some of your assets; being biased by giving more assets to a family member they are closer with; or otherwise.
All of this to say, creating a valid and enforceable estate plan leaves little to no room for your family members to pit against one another in formal estate litigation proceedings.
What can I do to prevent any further disputes amongst my family?
We encourage you to be vocal about your estate plans, and when you have officially established these documents, with your family members. This is to prepare them for what inheritances to expect when the time comes. In this way, they may not be blindsided and confused over what certain beneficiaries were granted over them. Again, this may make it less likely for them to contest your estate on the grounds that you were not of sound mind when thinking through these plans; that you were coerced by another family member at the time of signing; or otherwise.
On top of this, you may get a pulse on which of your assets certain family members prefer or cherish more over others. This may change your plans to what you initially figured in your head. Ultimately, this may ensure that every last family member is happy with what they received, and there are no feelings or jealousy or envy amongst the group.
If you require legal representation, look no further than one of the skilled Butler County estate planning & probate attorneys. The client testimonials on our website speak for themselves, saying that you will not regret hiring the team at Heritage Elder Law & Estate Planning, LLC.
