Simple Ways To Avoid The Contesting Of A Will

Drawing up a will is critical to ensure that your most-deserved loved ones receive your estate after your passing. Unfortunately, money can bring out the worst in people and those who feel they are entitled to an estate might choose to maliciously contest the will. To avoid seeing such a scenario play out, follow a few careful steps to effectively undermine such misguided attempts.

The Basics of a Will 

Opening an estate via a will is necessary to distribute assets that are solely in your name. For example, if only your name is listed on a house's deed or a car's title and the will lists "Person A" as the beneficiary of those assets, an estate must be opened in order to transfer ownership.

This would not be necessary if the person already owns a portion of the asset. With this in mind, there are two ways to curtail the contesting of the will.

Create Joint Accounts

When two people hold a joint account and someone passes, the survivor becomes the sole owner of the account. No will is even necessary here. If you wish to leave someone cash, creating a joint checking or savings account with the other person's name on it may be enough.

A third party would have an extremely difficult time making any claims to these assets. They belong to the survivor regardless of whether or not a will was drawn up. Joint ownership has already been established.

Assign a Beneficiary 

The one problem with creating joint accounts is the other person on the account can legally withdraw money at any time he/she wishes since he/she is a current joint account holder. Also, you may wish to leave your money to more than one person and you cannot feasibly have a joint checking account with six people.

A better plan may be to list a sole beneficiary or several individuals as beneficiaries. In simple terms, the beneficiary is the person who receives the assets upon your passing. This can be done with savings accounts, individual retirement accounts, stocks, and other assets in which assigning beneficiaries is legally allowable. 

Yet, someone may still try to contest joint assets or beneficiary designations. There is a way to address this issue before it arises.

Meet with Your Lawyer Annually

A common way a will is contested is through claiming will does not really reflect the person's true wishes. The individual could have been coerced either to draft a will a certain way or to set up joint/beneficiary designations. Claims could also be made the decedent was not in his/her right frame of mind. 

Meeting with your family law lawyer once a year to discuss matters related to the estate could make proving such claims very difficult. The lawyer would be called as a witness during the contesting hearings. The attorney can testify about the various meetings and affirm the final state of the will and all joint/beneficiary designations reflect your true, competent wishes.

Meet with a law firm, such as London Law Office, PC, LLO, to secure your will.

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