Death is a difficult event to grapple with and the situation can be made much worse if your family fights over the inheritance. If you have an estate or will and believe your family will disagree over what they're to inherit, there are ways you can address this situation. In addition, there are also ways to prevent them from fighting over these things with the help of an estate planning attorney.
Meet with an Estate Planner to Regularly Revise Your Will
With an estate planning lawyer, you will be able to discuss your family dynamics and come up with an inheritance that will be the best for you and your family. You will want to communicate closely with your family members with the help of board-certified experts who understand the friction that can occur when discussing matters of inheritance. The good news is that transparency can reduce fighting among family members.
The first step in planning an estate is to get a handle on all of your financial information, including a list of your assets and liabilities. Your estate planning lawyer will help you draft a letter of introduction and explanation. This helps explain the non-financial assets that will be conveyed.
Discussions with Your Family
You will want to discuss the division of your assets with your family members so there are no surprises. Anything unexpected is a common reason for conflict over an inheritance. Talking about death is something you may not want to do, but you can make the discussion be focused on future generations and your legacy. For this, consider what is important to you. This might be the continuation of your philanthropic work or the continuation of a family business. Family members are less likely to come into conflict with each other when they know what your wishes are.
Use Legal Tools
There are several legal steps you can take to reduce conflict. For example, you can put a no-contest clause which states that any party that contests the inheritance will lose their portion. The only way to contest your will then is if the family member makes a good faith challenge that is not simply an attempt to express discontent.
You also have the option of distributing much of your estate before you pass away so you will have the greatest degree of control over where your wealth goes. An estate planning lawyer can help you with this as well. For more information, check out this website, https://www.linskylaw.com, or similar sites regarding estate planning.
