Planning Your Estate? How To Tell If Your Kids Are Going To Fight Over Your Assets
In the perfect world, there would be no fighting over your estate once you're gone. Your adult children would accept your wishes, and carry them out without any complications or fighting. Unfortunately, death can bring out the worst in people, especially when it comes to dividing up an estate. If you're concerned that your passing will turn into a major fight among your children, you need to make sure your estate is on solid ground. An estate planning attorney can help you ensure a peaceful resolution to your estate once you pass. Here are four signs that you're children are going to erupt into bickering once you pass.
Your Children Already Suffer from Sibling Rivalry
If your children get along well, and don't break into fighting whenever there's disparity between them, you might not need to worry about the end-fighting. However, if your children already suffer from a massive case of sibling rivalry, you're going to need some legal help with your estate planning. With careful estate planning, you can make sure that everything is divided – and distributed – in a way that will reduce the occurrence of sibling rivalry.
Your Children Have Drastically Different Opinions
If your children have drastically different opinions, it may be necessary to have a trustee oversee your estate, especially where it comes to the disposal of assets. Problems can erupt when one group of children want to hold on to assets, while another group wants assets to be liquidated immediately. A trustee will be able to oversee the liquidation so that children are not left to fight over the details.
Your Children Have had a Falling Out with You
If you and your children are no longer on good terms, there's a distinct possibility that fighting will erupt over your estate once you've passed. This can be a real concern for the children that you're still on good terms with, especially if you've opted to leave the bulk of your assets to specific children. If you've had a falling out with any of your children, you need to hire an estate planning attorney.
Your Children Don't Approve of Your Recent Marriage
If you remarried later in life, and your children don't approve of your most recent marriage, you should sit down with an attorney and have them help you with your estate planning. This is particularly important if you'll be leaving the bulk of your estate to your new spouse, or if you want to ensure that your children will receive the assets that you've set aside for them.
Contact an attorney, like Diane Dramko, Attorney At Law, for more help.