May 2, 2017

Although the most popular way to approach your estate plan is to leave all assets equally to all your children. However, there are many situations where parents might apply logical reasoning to determine that unequal inheritances are a better approach. For example, if you have a child with special needs, he or she may benefit from a special needs trust to manage their disability-related concerns. 

An older child may make more money than the others leaving the younger children with a greater need for inheritance, or there are situations in which you may wish to completely disinherit an estranged child. Unequal inheritances, however, can lead to numerous problems including ending sibling relationships, will contests, and hurt feelings. if you intend to avoid fighting over children among the different inheritance amounts, it is essential to use trusts instead of wills.

If you pass away with assets in your name alone and only have a will, those assets will go through a probate proceeding. Family conflict with the use of wills is common because children have to receive legal notice with a copy of the will.

Each child may show up in probate court with their own individual lawyer and contest the will. The associated expense and the frustration of litigation can drag on for years. When you use a trust instead of a will, you decrease the chances of family conflict associated with the inheritance. Trusts effectively avoid probate because you transfer assets into the trust while you’re still alive and the trust determines what happens to those assets when you pass away and the children will not necessarily receive legal notice. Consult with an experienced New Jersey estate planning attorney if you would like to discuss this in further detail.