There are a number of reasons why it is important to discuss your situation with a licensed estate planning attorney rather than trying to plan your own estate using generic template documents.
It is possible that members of your family may not be especially pleased with your estate plan. In cases such as these disputes sometimes arise, and they can play themselves out in court.
This would obviously create acrimony within the family, and the rightful heirs to the estate would not receive their inheritances until the court case was resolved. In addition to these difficulties a dispute could result in hefty legal fees that significantly reduce the value of the estate.
A good estate planning attorney can help you take steps to prevent successful challenges.
While disputes are certainly something that you want to avoid, observers may find such a dispute to be interesting to hear about.
There are some television producers that are of the mind that disputes over inheritances would make for good reality TV. According to TheTrustAdvisor.com the wheels are in motion regarding a reality show with a working title of Will Wars.
It is still in the embryonic stage, but the idea at the present time is to allow all interested parties to make their respective cases on the show. The hope is that the people who are disagreeing about the inheritances will ultimately be able to come to some type of concurrence after getting everything out in the open.
If you are aware of a case that you think may be of interest to the producers you can submit your story to The Trust Advisor.
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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