When people start setting aside assets and considering who will inherit their estate, there are a couple of mistakes people may make, making it harder for family, friends and loved ones to inherit from your estate and even cause estate disputes.
Here’s what you should know about two of the biggest causes of estate litigation:
You never wrote a will or trust
When people pass away without a will or trust, family members will rarely all agree on how your estate should be distributed. Instead, the state will take up the position of distributing assets when the deceased has no will or trust.
However, you may not want to leave your estate at the hands of the state. Your estate could be caught up in probate and cause your family to go through an expensive, lengthy and tiresome process for their inheritance.
You wrote your own will or trust
While the concept of a will and trust can seem easy, the actual process of writing can be tricky. Many people often have legal help when writing a will or trust, otherwise, they could miss crucial steps that invalidate a will or trust.
People often don’t realize that there’s a specific wordage for wills and trusts that makes it clear what the document is intended to do. A DIY will can be misleading or invalid because of contradictory information.
A will or trust needs to be witnessed by two disinterested people. A self-made will or trust could even be problematic if the writer was not in sound mind or was influenced by another person.
If you’re unsure about how to write a will or trust, then you may need to consider contacting legal assistance that can take you through the correct process.
