When During the Estate Planning / Estate Litigation Process Can Conflicts Be Addressed?
When potential conflicts are discovered during a traditional estate planning process, they are often ignored by the estate planning professional. No-contest provisions appear in many traditionally prepared estate plans. The resulting conflicts often end up in probate litigation. This is the conventional “default” approach. During Estate Conflict Management workshops, estate planning and estate litigation attorneys have discussed at least two alternatives: addressing potential conflicts during the estate planning process and creating a mechanism to address conflicts as soon after the death of the testator (post mortem) as practicable. In other words, “We can deal with it now, deal with it later or never”. Otherwise known as the “let them deal with it after I’m gone” approach or the “My kids always get along” approach. During the Estate Conflict Management workshops we discuss, brainstorm and compare the benefits and disadvantages of addressing conflicts at each of these different points
