Inheritance planning can involve a great deal of soul-searching. Of course there are technical details that must be addressed, and this is an important piece of the puzzle. At the same time, there are also very personal considerations that can enter the equation when you are engaged in your inheritance planning efforts.
Unfortunately, you may not get along with everyone in your family, and you could harbor hard feelings toward certain individuals who would logically be in line for inheritances. Since you will not be around to experience the fallout, you may be tempted to send messages when you are deciding how much (if anything) you want to pass along to these family members.
Without question, you have the right to do anything that you want to do with your resources. However, you may want to consider the dynamic that could be left behind if you know full well that your inheritance planning decisions will not sit well with some people.
Estate Challenges
If you use a will to state your final wishes, it could be challenged in court. Someone could contend that the will was signed when you were under duress. Intimidation and coercion are grounds that can be utilized, and in order for a will to be valid, the testator must be of sound mind. Someone could claim that you were not fully capable of making sound decisions when you signed the will.
We should point out the fact that a trust can also be challenged through the initiation of a lawsuit. When someone is especially angry, this individual could try to challenge the validity of the estate planning documents. This can create a messy situation, even if the person is unsuccessful in the long run.
Family Disharmony
An estate challenge would be a somewhat extreme scenario, but these situations do present themselves. Even if there are no challenges on the legal level, the inheritance planning decisions that you make could create serious problems among your loved ones. You would probably like your family members to get along and support one another after you are gone, so this is something to take seriously when you are putting your inheritance plan together.
We are making no particular recommendations here, but you may want to think long and hard about the dynamic that will be left behind after your passing if you make choices that are not going to go over well with certain people.
Schedule a Free Consultation
In this blog post we have provided a little bit of food for thought. If you would like to sit down and discuss your estate planning objectives in detail with a licensed professional, our firm would be glad to assist you.
We offer no obligation consultations, and you can contact us through this page to set up an appointment: Hartford CT Estate Planning Attorneys.
Mr. Nirenstein is licensed to practice before the courts of the State of Connecticut and the United States District Court. He is a member of the Connecticut and Hartford County Bar Associations, and the Estate and Probate, Elder Law, Business Law and Real Estate Sections of the Connecticut Bar Association.
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