If you are creating an estate plan, many hurdles may come up. However, handling challenges that involve beneficiaries can be especially difficult. Whether you are having a hard time naming beneficiaries and are not sure how to divide your assets or an argument arises over decisions you have made involving your will or trust, our law office is all too familiar with the different hurdles that people across Massachusetts sometimes have to work through when they are setting up an estate plan.
Discussing these matters with your loved ones can be helpful, although it is not always a good idea to go over your estate plan with beneficiaries. Decisions involving the distribution of assets can lead to hostility between siblings and other family members. That said, you should never feel as if you are forced to act against your wishes.
Sometimes, problems with beneficiaries can even arise after the creator of a will or trust has passed. For example, a beneficiary dispute may appear due to disagreements over the way in which assets were distributed by an executor. Or, beneficiaries might be upset by the distribution of property, leading to bitterness and even turmoil within the family. Sometimes, it is impossible for someone who is setting up an estate plan to prevent these issues from arising, but it is a good idea to do what you can to reduce the chances of such a dispute.
Our estate planning section will have more information interconnected with beneficiary disputes and similar topics.