The Funny Thing About Estate Litigation
The hardest thing to understand is where everything goes. It’s virtually impossible to truly know what someone wants, what their intentions are, and why they do whatever it is they end up doing. Fortunately, answers to these questions can be attained if you the proper steps are taken. Death is inevitable. No one is getting out of this life alive. While some people live simple lives until their eventual death, others live very complicated lives that leave a lot of questions to be answered when they eventually check out. So how do you answer these questions? You start with finding an estate litigation attorney that has the know how.
First question: What does someone truly want? Well you could ask them and hope for an honest answer. In this particular instance, you can’t ask them because they are dead, gone from this reality. The most significant degree of separation has taken place so what can you do? You can hope the recently deceased had a trusted attorney that specialized in estate litigation and probate administration. With these kind of attorneys in place, they can sit with those with something to leave behind and get exactly their wishes in complete confidence. No biases from the kids or grand kids. No siblings buttering them up in hopes of getting more at the time of their death. It really can be a nasty situation if you aren’t careful. Have these probate attorneys in place so when death comes knocking, the mourning that follows isn’t riddled with strife and family conflict.
Second question: What are their intentions? This answer can only really be found if the first question has been answered. If all that’s left after someone leaves this place is strict legal instructions of who gets what, you should have enough information to answer this question. Ideally, you would have talked to this person before their death and would have some idea as to what they were leaving you and why. Unfortunately, people don’t normally sit in this situation. People grow distant in their dying years. The other ideal situation would be if the probate attorney had enough time to get close to the recently departed and could convey the recently departed intentions. Kudos to that estate litigation attorney for being so on point. To circle back around to the first point, if the will is in order, you can try and glean what the recently deceased may have intended for you based on what they left you. Just hope that first question is answered with that probate administration attorney or no one will know any answer in a time of change and mourning.
Last question: Why people do whatever they end of doing? This question is easy to answer in this situation. They died. Why? Because they were old, sick, in pain, depressed, whatever. I guess the best way to find the true answer is have a great doctor that determines the cause of death. Now if someone caused their death, that is a whole other can of worms that can be opened at a later date. And normally in those circumstances, no one has the time to sit and plan where everything goes before their death.
Do yourself a favor, if you know the end is near, look up a well reviewed probate attorney, estate litigator, or probate administrator in Irvine and get planing. Yelp is a great place to start if you are looking in southern California. Word has it that probate attorneys in Irvine are they way to go. Get on it! Don’t wait before the inevitable happens.