Probate Information Center

Avoiding Probate Litigation

The primary way to avoid probate litigation is to plan early and plan carefully. No strategy can guarantee that your heirs or beneficiaries will avoid litigation. Every legal tactic can be challenged. However, careful planning can ensure that your wishes will be carried out to the fullest.

Avoid Probate and You Can Avoid Probate Litigation

The first way to avoid probate litigation is by avoiding probate all together. Even a strategy that avoids probate does not guarantee that your heirs will avoid litigation, but such a strategy may be the best attempt to avoid litigation.

In order to avoid probate, you and your lawyer must develop a plan that uses tools engineered specifically to keep your property and assets out of the jurisdiction of the probate court. Some of these vehicles include:

joint tenancy with rights of survivorship
revocable trusts
designation of beneficiaries under contractual or trust obligations

These tools create rights in designated people that can be acted upon without having to go through the probate process. Unlike using a will, the probate court does not have to approve of or validate these instruments for distribution to proceed. For example, when two people own a house in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship and one of the joint owners dies, the property is not included in the decedent's estate. Instead, the surviving owner becomes the sole owner. Nothing usually needs to be done for this to take place.

But avoiding probate is not always going to be possible.

Save Your Family the Cost and Stress of Litigation

If you cannot avoid probate, then careful planning can save your family and beneficiaries from the cost and stress of having to go through the litigation process while they are already having a hard enough time dealing with your death. Such planning should include a determination of who will get what. To do so, you might take a complete inventory of all of your assets and properties.

But you do not have to have a plan prepared before you consult an attorney. The benefit of talking with an attorney is to make sure that every issue is considered and accounted for in your plan.

Even then, all of the planning in the world cannot guarantee your estate won't be litigated. A relative might dispute the validity of your will. A creditor might contest the rights of your beneficiaries under those alternative trusts and contracts. But proper planning and avoidance strategies that you and your estate planning and probate litigation lawyer can devise can go a long way to protect your estate and your family and beneficiaries from the cost, emotion, and hassle of probate litigation.

If you are contemplating ways to avoid probate litigation, contact an attorney experienced in probate and estate planning to discuss your options.

DISCLAIMER: This site and any information contained herein are intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. Seek competent legal counsel for advice on any legal matter.

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