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Your will is the cornerstone of your estate plan. One of the best ways of protecting your estate from legalchallenges is ensuring that your will is professionally drafted and your assets go to the people you intend.
Have proof of mental capacity.
Guard against claims of undue influence.
Ensure the will is properly executed.
Document any gifts made during your lifetime.
Draft the will to protect against challenges.
Protecting your estate from legal challenges becomes even more important when you consider the financial and emotional costs involved in defending an estate during the litigation process.
Here are some of the estimated costs:
Obtaining an order organizing the litigation $5,000 to $10,000
Collecting and disclosing evidence to establish your case $2,000 to $20,000
Attending discoveries to give sworn evidence $10,000 and up, plus the costs of preparing the transcripts ($2.00 to $3.50 a page, with an approximate length of 200 pages)
Preparing for and attending a pre-trial conference $3,000 to $7,500
Preparing for and attending at trial $15,000 to $30,000 a day for trial
plus fees for preparation time
Appeal of court’s decision $40,000 and up
Lack of a comprehensive estate plan
Inadequate estate planning advice
Acrimonious family members
Actions of your personal representatives
Disputes over family property such as cottages
You can protect your family from the high costs of estate challenges by using a family conference to solve disputes before they become litigious. With the mediator’s help, you can use the conference to tell family members your estate plan and obtaintheir understanding of your wishes .
Family conferences help by providing aprofessional mediator to assist you andyour heirs in resolving any concerns
aboutyour estate.
Before you have a family conference you will need to discuss your wishes with your lawyer and financial planner to ensure that all legal requirements are met.
Meet with the family estate conference mediator and present the relevant legal documents, such as your will, along with an overview of your estate plan
Inform the mediator of who you would like to invite to the conference and the mediator will contact those people and coordinate the meeting
Engage in more in-depth discussion with the mediator about your estate plan and any potential difficulties you think might arise at the meeting
At the conference the mediator will explain the process, go over the rules of courtesy, outline the agenda, and guide dialogue about your wishes and the reasoning behind your decisions
If through the conferencing process you decide to change any part of your estate plan, the mediator will arrange for a follow-up conference with very specific concerns on the agenda
Craft a memorandum of understanding in which participants agree to refrain from challenging your estate
The mediator will encourage healthy discussion of your proposal.
At some point family members will be split into small groups or caucuses where the mediator will discuss the proposal with them. The mediator will go between the different groups in order to gain an understanding of any concerns or proposals or solutions that will be presented.
The goal of the family conference is to have all family members sign a Family Constitution approving the estate plan and agreeing not to contest the will. If the meeting goes well, thiscan happen in a single session. In some cases, subsequent meetings will need to be held.
Once the conference is completed the mediator will
draw up the FAMILY CONFERENCE AGREEMENT.
The Agreement reviews your wishes and any amendments that have been reached during the family conference.
All family member sign the agreement and each one is given a copy
Once the Family Constitution is signed, yourlawyer and any other professional advisors will prepare the necessary documents, including wills, trusts, powers of attorney and deeds of gift, to implement your estate plan. Once that is done, you will need to be diligent in reviewing the estate plan regularly to make sure it still reflects your wishes.
To assist you with your insurance needs, Diane Rusk is the Family Matters insurance specialist who can talk to you about your insurance needs and tax shelters. Diane is an expert with ten years of knowledge in this area. She is well respected and is focused on building relationships with her clients and supporting you through the family estate conference.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
LORRAINE [email protected]
416-967-9432, ext. 22
RUTH [email protected]
416-967-9432, ext. 60
DIANE [email protected]
1-888-222-6359
