Writing an estate plan isn’t just something that you do for yourself. It’s something that you do for your family. You need to put them first. The plan can help to make things go smoothly, and it may even help your heirs avoid disputes.
These disputes are common between siblings. When left with control over the decisions they make, the result may be fighting between them over what to do.
When rivalries boil over
Money is often a motivator in these kinds of disputes. For example, consider the story of three siblings whose father passed away. One sibling wanted their mother, who had some issues with her memory, to stay in her home. The other two, however, wanted to move their mother into an assisted living center. They even went so far as to do it quickly, and the third sibling had to fight in court to get his mother moved back into the home.
Why did it happen? The home itself was worth millions of dollars. The two siblings who moved their mother into a home just wanted to sell that house so that they could take a cut of the profits. They had even hired a real estate agent to do it for them.
Creating a plan
The right estate plan could have laid out exactly when and how the home was to be sold and who would get the money from that sale. This roadmap could have helped the children avoid a dispute that left them no longer on speaking terms. If it’s time to do your estate planning, make sure you work with an experienced legal team every step of the way.