Common Causes of Estate Litigation - Part I
Understanding frequent causes of estate litigation can help avoid an estate dispute.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, in Ian Hull’s book “Advising Families on Succession Planning, the High Price of Not Talking”, he comments on a number of common causes of estate litigation.
In this and tomorrow’s blog, I will review some of these common causes.
A lack of understanding of the need for an estate plan, or the reluctance to seek advice, can cause a dispute. Regrettably, many people die without knowing what an estate plan could have accomplished with their estate or the disputes that a plan might have prevented. An estate plan should, among other things, ensure that your assets go to those people you intend them to go to.
Obtaining inadequate estate planning advice can also lead to an estate dispute. One should look for an estate planning professional, typically, a lawyer, an accountant, financial planner and/or insurance professional who also has experience with your personal circumstances or, alternatively, can be made aware of all of the details of your circumstances. It is perhaps trite to say that as families have very different circumstances from one another, an estate plan for one family’s circumstance will not be appropriate for or applicable to another’s.
If your circumstances have changed, an existing estate plan may no longer reflect your intentions regarding your estate. As such, it is important to keep your estate plan current with new circumstances. Circumstances that should cause you to review your estate plan are, amongst others, if a principal beneficiary dies, you marry, divorce or remarry, a child or grandchild is born, a beneficiary or dependent of yours becomes disabled, the value of your assets have significantly increased or decreased, your beneficiaries under your RRSPs, pension plans or insurance policies are redesignated or have their entitlements changed, you establish a secret trust, a business interest of yours has changed (i.e. a partnership has dissolved or a company has been incorporated), and/or tax or other legislative changes have occurred that might effect your estate plan.
In tomorrow’s blog, I will discuss several other common causes of estate disputes.
Have a great day.
Craig.
