Making Your Will: Three Guidelines on Minimising the Risk of Disputes
If you are preparing a will, you should consult an experienced lawyer to help you with the process. The legal counsel provided can be invaluable in ensuring that your will is valid and indisputable. However, you are not obligated to have an attorney when preparing your will. You can harness online resources and assistance from people around. Regardless of your preparation choice, it is possible for disputes to arise over your distribution of property. The disagreements can delay the inheritance, and your loved ones might suffer. If you are concerned about the possibility of disputes, you should think about using the below tips to minimise clashes after your death.
Discuss Plans with Your Family
You should not be quick to distribute your property without at least sounding out your family and relatives. It is your right to bequeath your possessions as you see fit. However, you will achieve better results if you understand the feelings of your family members. You can discretely or openly ask your potential beneficiaries about the assets they would like to receive. A discussion with the family members can also help your loved ones to understand your decisions. You do not have to follow the wishes of your family in the final will. In most cases, the dialogue will prevent entitlement feuding.
Ensure the Details are Explicit
You should not be vague when mentioning specific people, groups or places in your will. If the details outlined are not explicit enough, a disgruntled person could use the opportunity to challenge the will. While the challenge might not be successful, it could cause prolonged delays. Therefore, when naming your heirs, you should not only use their name. You should include details on their relationship to you, their birthdate and address. If you are living some assets to charity, you should mention the legal name, nature and contact information. Also, when specifying properties, you should provide the legal description as opposed to denoting the street address only.
Plan for Beneficiary Unavailability
You should note that some beneficiaries might not be able or willing to claim their inheritance. For instance, an heir might predecease you, or they might not be interested in the specific items left as their inheritance. Also, you might have bequeathed assets to a charity organisation which might not be active in the future. If this is a concern for you, you should insert stopgaps. In simple terms, you should state where you would like the possessions to go in case of this unavailability.