What can you do to minimize inheritance conflict?

On Behalf of | Mar 21, 2020 | Estate Planning |

If you are not careful when creating your estate plan, you run the risk of your beneficiaries fighting amongst one another if one of them winds up challenging the contents of your will. Unfortunately, inheritance conflicts are not unusual, and in some cases, these battles lead to permanent fractures within a family.

There are, however, some things you may want to do to help reduce the chances of your children finding themselves involved in an inheritance fight after your passing. For example, consider:

Distributing your wealth equally

Unless you have a legitimate reason for wanting to exclude one of your children during estate planning, arguably the easiest way to prevent inheritance conflicts among your children involves distributing your wealth equally among them. Otherwise, you run the risk of your kids comparing what you left to them, which may lead to hard feelings and infighting.

Expressing your wishes early on

It may also benefit you to give your children a solid idea of how you plan to distribute your wealth while you are still around to do so. Some adult children have grandiose ideas in terms of how much they expect to get from you, so giving them a more realistic idea early on may prevent conflicts down the line. This also gives you an opportunity to placate any children who might be upset with your decisions.

No one wants to think about their family members fighting with one another once they are no longer around to help keep the peace. Taking preventative steps now may help your family stick together later on.