Keeping The Peace: Steps Estate Planning Lawyers Recommend To Minimize The Chances Of A Battle For Your Estate

Keeping The Peace: Steps Estate Planning Lawyers Recommend To Minimize The Chances Of A Battle For Your Estate

Depending on your family, it may not be possible to completely avoid a contest over your estate. Although such a contest may be inevitable, you can certainly take steps to prevent it. The key is to make your actual testament as foolproof as possible. This involves much more than just working with a qualified will attorney in the drafting process. While it does include some obvious steps, estate planning lawyers see too many situations where people didn't understand the whole process, and ended up unintentionally causing problems within their family as a result.

Step 1: Meticulous Record-Keeping

Whenever a testament is contested, its validity is put into question. Usually, the contesting party holds that the author was for whatever reason unable to complete such a document, or that the one being used to execute the estate is not the correct one. To help prevent this problem, you should keep meticulous records of many different aspects on the day of the signing of your testament, and of all previous documents. You should have a record of every time you visit the will attorney and what you discussed. You should also maintain signed, witnessed copies of every prior document in existence, right through your most current. You should clearly denote which is considered to be currently active.

In addition, you want to keep records of all conversations about the document. This includes discussions with estate planning lawyers, drafting discussions with your will attorney, and even advice received from probate attorneys. When in doubt, you should choose to record it. If your document is ever brought into question, your heirs will be able to show a clear paper trail leading to the current one, which accurately represents your wishes.

Step 2: Remove All Questions Of Competency

It is quite common for disgruntled heirs to claim that the author of an estate document wasn't capable of making such decisions at the time of writing and signing. To defuse these kinds of arguments, you should be examined by a doctor on the day of the signing. You should maintain written records from that doctor testifying that you were found to be in good physical and mental health. If your competency on that day is ever questioned, that becomes the first line of defense.

Additionally, you should have more than the government-mandated two witnesses present at the signing. Ideally, those two witnesses should also not be strangers. Make them people you know, lifelong friends who could later testify to your competency and to the authenticity of the document without too much question.

Step 3: Ensure That The Document Is As Well Crafted As Possible

Your will is only able to hold up in court if it is a well-drafted document. Unless you work closely with estate planning lawyers, you may not end up with something that is well written. This is particularly true if you use a low-budget drafting service (either online or an inexpensive will attorney). You should find strong estate planning lawyers to help create your testament, making it less likely that your heirs will need to hire probate attorneys.

Step 4: Always Be Candid With Your Heirs

The most important thing is to be upfront about any changes you make. Even if you expect potential heirs to be unhappy with it, it can be better to tell them now rather than let them discover it later. Keeping everyone in the loop can save thousands in legal fees and prevent a family rift that might take generations to heal. Similarly, ensure that any disinherited individuals are clearly marked as such in your testament. Anything that could be cause for strife should be enumerated and made clear. By following this standard of clarity, you minimize the likelihood that probate attorneys will be hired and that your document will be contested, maximizing the chances that your intent will be followed during the distribution of your estate.

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