Avoid Estate Battle After You Die

How to Avoid an Estate Battle After You Die - NYTimes.com: " . . . Contesting a will is costly, time-consuming and emotional. One way to ensure that doesn’t happen is to make the downside of losing a risk too severe to take. Long before death, when a will is filed and takes effect, people can put their assets into a revocable trust. They still have access to the money during their lifetime and can keep those assets out of the probate process. The trust could also act as a substitute for a will by naming other beneficiaries. “The disappointed family member doesn’t have a legal right to challenge it,” Mr. Rothschild said. “They’d have to go to the court and say, ‘Even though it’s been in existence for many years, mother wasn’t competent to put it together.’ ”When it comes to a will, one way to reduce the chances of a challenge is to put in a no-contest clause. In doing so a parent would leave a little to the otherwise disinherited children, but if they contest the will they get nothing." (read more at link above)

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