How to Avoid Common Estate Disputes

Planning how your property will be distributed to your heirs after you pass away is a prudent way to ensure the financial security of your loved ones. What will your beneficiaries do if disputes arise? How can they know how you would have responded to those disputes if you were still around? Don’t let these questions keep you up at night. Instead, take advantage of reliable estate planning legal services in Alabama and learn how to anticipate and prevent estate-related disagreements.

Strategies for Avoiding and Overcoming Estate Disputes

Create a Will

The simplest and most crucial step you can take to prevent common estate disputes is to contact a qualified Alabama estate planning lawyer and create a will at your earliest convenience.

If you die intestate (without a will), your heirs will be bound by Alabama’s intestate succession rules. While these rules are set up to divide an estate in a way that’s in line with the average will, this doesn’t allow for any variation. It’s also a very slow process, because it needs to permit contestation by all potential heirs.

If you neglect to create a will, your property will most likely be divided in ways that you wouldn’t have wanted. This is the worst-case scenario.

When you die without a will, you grant the state of Alabama the authority to make all decisions about how your property is to be distributed.

Update Your Will Regularly

Creating a will isn’t a one-time effort. It’s vital to reassess your will every few years to determine whether it still meets your and your family’s needs.

Upon review, you might decide that you don’t need to make any changes, and that’s fine — it only costs a little time and a relatively modest attorney’s fee to look it over and make no changes. However, when your assessment uncovers something that needs to be modified, that time and money will be well-spent.

For example, if you get remarried, you may want to add your new spouse to your will. If you don’t, Alabama law will assume that you intended to add them unless you explicitly direct otherwise. Modifying your will and either adding your spouse or indicating that you intentionally omitted them can help prevent costly estate litigation when you pass.

Discuss Your Will With All Relevant Parties

One of the best ways to avoid common estate disputes is to discuss your estate plans with all relevant parties. You should tell everyone who’s in your will that you’ve included them and approximately what they’ll be receiving.

Similarly, if there’s anyone you omitted from your will who might expect to be included in it, you should tell them directly. This will prevent these parties from claiming they didn’t know what was in the will, especially if you have these conversations in the presence of your estate attorney. It also gives the parties a chance to suggest other options. This discussion may not change your mind, but it could allow you to compromise on a solution that ensures another party won’t dispute the will when you’re gone.

Want to protect your loved ones after you pass away? Estate planning services from Southern Estate Lawyers can prevent disagreements from erupting after your passing. Contact us at (251) 444-7000 today to schedule a no-cost consultation.

Consider Creating a Trust

Another prudent way to avoid disputes is to create a trust.

When you die with only a will, your estate enters probate. During this process, any interested party has the right to contest the will, even if they knew they were excluded or understood exactly what you intended for them to receive. While such a contest may not succeed, it will delay the distribution of your property and probably cost other heirs money.

Establishing a trust gets around this problem. Trusts aren’t subject to probate rules; they follow different regulations. Whether the benefits are worth it depends on your specific goals and circumstances. A knowledgeable estate planning lawyer can help you understand this option and advise you about whether to consider setting up a trust.

Give Away Property While You’re Alive

Your estate can only be contested after you pass away. If you’re still alive when you give away property, that type of gift is much harder for someone to dispute.

You likely don’t want to give everything away, and there are tax consequences to consider when giving gifts. Still, you might want to transfer portions of your estate while you’re around to see the pleasure your heirs get from your largess.

For example, once you reach an age where you can no longer drive yourself, there’s little reason for your car to sit unused in your garage (this is especially true if you’ve amassed a collection of vehicles). If you gift or sell a vehicle to a loved one at a discounted price, they can benefit from it while you’re still alive. Who knows? It might just be what they need to visit you more often.

Choose a Trusted Executor

One final way to reduce the risk of estate-related tumult after you’re gone is to choose an executor you’re certain will preserve your interests when you’re no longer around. This should be someone you trust to whom you’ve spent time explaining your inheritance decisions.

If you don’t feel comfortable assigning this duty to a friend or family member, an estate lawyer can take the role. They have a professional duty to respect your wishes and understand the law well enough to protect your rights effectively.

Contact Southern Estate Lawyers for Personalized Guidance

One of the biggest mistakes people make in estate planning is delaying putting off meeting with an attorney until something unexpected happens. Don’t wait for problems to arise to act — start planning for your estate today.

To get the help you need in providing for your loved ones after your death, contact Southern Estate Lawyers at (251) 444-7000 to discuss your options with a seasoned estate planning attorney.