WHY PROBATE LITIGATION ATTORNEYS
MAKE THE BEST ESTATE PLANNING ADVISORS
Please Consider the Following Questions
• Would you agree that a primary purpose for doing estate planning is to prevent probate litigation? • Would you agree that experienced probate litigation attorneys probably know more about probate litigation than anyone else? Who would know more about probate litigation? • If probate litigators know more than anyone else about probate litigation, then who has more insight than probate litigators in how to prevent probate litigation? Who knows better how to prevent injuries in car crashes than safety engineers who spend their days looking at car crashes? Who knows better how to prevent air travel fatalities than pilot psychologists and aircraft engineers who spend their careers studying airline disasters? • If a primary purpose of estate planning is to ensure the efficient and peaceful distribution of your assets, then wouldn't you agree that to ensure this purpose is met, probate litigators would make the best estate planning advisors?
The Human Side of Estate Planning.
There are only two purposes for doing estate planning: (1) to minimize taxes (the Tax Side of Planning) and (2) to ensure that upon your incapacity or death your assets will bless the lives of your beneficiaries the way you want, as efficiently as possible, and without contention (the Human Side of Planning).Only Probate Attorneys Really Appreciate the Human Side of Estate Planning.
Experienced probate litigators have witnessed all the ways people undermine their own good intentions and all the ways a person's heirs, spouses, and even professional advisors destroy the best laid estate plans. After dealing with every type of trustee and beneficiary in every conceivable conflict, probate litigators are uniquely qualified to argue the following: Only Probate Litigators Truly Appreciate the Human Side of Estate Planning.
We have seen every type of family dynamic, witnessed every trick in the book, and know how things shake down in reality, not just in theory or on paper. As probate litigators, only we know--really know--the “Human Side of Planning."
Probate Litigation Attorneys Are Best Suited to Ensure Superior Planning.
Probate litigators are best suited to use their knowledge of the Human Side of Planning to ensure that upon your incapacity or death your assets will bless the lives of your beneficiaries without contention. During seventeen years of litigation, we have seen probate cases cost beneficiaries millions of dollars. Every probate case we have litigated--every one--involved either inadequate internet/software documents or documents drafted by attorneys holding themselves out as estate planners, but who had no probate litigation experience.
Our experience in the probate courts is used to your advantage. We are proud to say that the legal planning we have done for our clients (business, estate, incapacity, and tax planning) has never been undermined by litigation. Knowing how things go wrong, we know how to prevent things from going wrong.
Documents Count.
Experienced probate litigators know that in resolving even minor tensions, documents matter. And in serious court situations documents are everything. Unfortunately, documents prepared by “estate planners” who are not probate litigators are most often deeply flawed. The majority of challenges facing beneficiary children, trustees, or business partners can be resolved before they get out of hand with comprehensive, well-drafted documents, prepared by probate attorneys who know from litigation experience how to prevent things from falling apart.
For example, we assure you that people who buy a cheap three-page power of attorney from anyone (Suzy Orman, Dave Ramsey, LegalZoom, Staples, an advisor, or attorney) are victims of consumer fraud. Does anyone really believe that computer boilerplate forms can even begin to address the Human Side of Planning unique to each individual? A recent case we litigated in Logan, Utah cost the four adult children over $200,000. The case was the direct result of Dad insisting on paying an "estate planning attorney" only $350 for cheap LegalZoom-type documents. The documents were sterile, clinical, and completely void of the Human Side of Planning--cost: $211,000 in attorney fees alone! For more on these type of documents, click here.
Educated Fiduciaries
Fiduciaries are the ones who run the show if you are incapacitated or deceased. Fiduciaries is a term referring to trustees, personal representatives, and agents. Probate litigators know best how to ask the most pointed questions in helping you choose appropriate fiduciaries. Probate litigators also know best how to educate your fiduciaries how to avoid every conceivable problem in the future.
Communication with Beneficiaries and Fiduciaries
As experienced probate litigators, we deeply appreciate the anxieties, concerns, uncertainties, and even anger of adult children, spouses, or trustees. It is only probate litigators who can credibly address these concerns and persuade these parties how to avoid future conflict. Probate litigators are uniquely qualified to help parties begin to “own the documents”: to understand and refer to them. And when parties own a document, they are much more likely to govern themselves and resolve issues by communicating and relying on the documents, instead of relying on attorneys and courts to sort things out later. As probate litigators, we are best qualified to resolve potential problems now, long before they ever become problems in reality.
Probate Litigators Make the Best Estate Planning Advisors
Probate litigators make the best estate planning attorneys, because we know from "in-the-trenches" experience (not reading a manual) how things go south. Because we engage in probate battles daily (the Human Side of Planning gone wrong), we know better than anyone how to ensure that the Human Side of your Planning will in fact succeed.
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