It happens. A family member passes away and they have a trust in place that specifies where their estate goes and who gets what. Fighting ensues, people have hurt feelings, and lawyers are called because someone feels left out. If you are creating your trust and you have heard of these kinds of horror stories, you may be second-guessing creating a trust at all. However, estate planning lawyers want you to know that they can guide you through the different steps to take when it comes to planning your trust so you do not have to worry about this happening. For information on creating your trust, give a law office a call now.
What can you do to avoid situations like this?
There are a few things you will need to consider when it comes to planning your trust. Lawyers have seen some families who are very surprised and disappointed when they hear the trust read to them, so they can help avoid these kinds of surprises.
- Choosing Your Executor. When it comes to choosing your executor, you want to do so wisely. Your executor should be someone you trust to make the right call and someone who can mitigate drama when it comes to reading your estate. You want someone who will be organized, who can put in the research about your trust if they don’t have the answer, someone with integrity, and someone who can communicate well. The more open and honest the executor is with the people you name as inheritors, the more likely things will run smoothly.
- Anticipate Problems. Think of the people in your family who may become a problem after you pass away. Perhaps they are the most dramatic person in any given situation or maybe they like to stir up trouble for the fun of it. The best thing you can do if you want to avoid trouble and drama after you pass away is to make your wishes in your trust abundantly clear so there is no room for questioning and it does not look like you forget something. When there is room to question something, it can be expensive for your family to take these matters to court. When you leave something to a specific family member, you are free to explain why you did so.
When it comes to planning your trust, you want to make sure you can rely on someone to guide you through the steps. This is where we come in. To see how an estate planning lawyer, like from Klenk Law, can help you with your trust, contact a law firm now.
