An estate planning lawyer can help people create a last will or establish a trust to protect inherited assets in the event of death. It is important to select an attorney specializing in probate law who will listen to your needs and provide sound advice in developing strategies that will benefit your designated beneficiaries.
A colleague recently retained an estate planning attorney to assist with the estate of his terminally ill mother. Although her mother was not a wealthy woman, she owned a house, a car, and had financial portfolios and life insurance policies.
The estate attorney was referred through his mother’s credit union. Within the family there were considerable family conflicts and her mother wanted to disinherit one of her children. The estate planner executed a simple will and provided strategies to prevent assets from going through probate.
Due to the nature of the illness, the woman’s daughter did not have time to consult with various probate law firms. Instead, she was forced to work with an asset protection attorney who had no prior knowledge of her mother, her family dynamics, or how she intended to distribute her inherited assets.
The credit union closed its estate planning division due to budget cuts. Her daughter was not informed of this and she only discovered that she no longer had an attorney for the probate after her mother passed away. This created chaos for the daughter who was appointed executor of the estate.
To make matters worse, the estate administrator resided in another state. She was forced to find a new probate trial attorney just days before returning home. During her meeting, the man expressed no interest in her mother’s estate and was unable to provide advice on how to protect her mother’s will from being challenged by the disinherited son.
Fortunately, she was well versed in estate planning and had taken steps to obtain asset protection. Because the rest of her estate was small, the trustee was able to avoid probate and liquidate her mother’s estate in a few months.
This shows that things can go terribly wrong when estate planning is put off until a person is terminally ill. Many unwanted problems can arise when trusts and estates are run during the last weeks of a person’s life.
This is important when executing a last will and testament and distributing assets among dysfunctional families. When probate estate planning takes place in the final stages of life, the disinherited heirs may challenge the will on the grounds that the decedent was not of sound mind or was under the influence of someone else’s persuasion. When wills are contested, probate can be suspended for months or years and potentially bankrupt the probate.
Estate and fiduciary planning should be started while you are in good health. Hiring an estate planning probate lawyer ensures that his final wishes will be carried out when he dies. It also takes the stress out of the designated probate personal representative.
To find attorneys who specialize in estate planning, visit the American Bar Association website, search attorney referral networks, or explore local telephone directories. Interview with a minimum of four lawyers. Ask for referrals and follow-ups.
