Murphy’s law “Everything that can go wrong will go wrong” surprisingly applies more than we would like in the field of estate planning. Especially when a person leaves his inheritance without previously stipulating his conditions, basically inviting problems and disasters to his beneficiaries. The good news is that with well-designed estate planning, you can avoid all of these problems and protect your loved ones.
What can go wrong when you inherit and donate without conditions?
There are many dangers with inheritances or direct donations. Here the 5 great dangers that can (and in many cases will happen) happen:
1.- Lawsuits: Creditors who initiate a lawsuit and it is approved by a judge can take advantage of the inheritance of a beneficiary to satisfy the debt (even if it is a “frivolous” lawsuit).
2.- Bankruptcy: Bankruptcy courts can take advantage of a bankruptcy beneficiary’s inheritance to pay creditors and court costs.
3.- Guardianships: The guardianship court can impose its decision if a beneficiary is disabled now or later suffers a disability.
4.- Probation Court: If the beneficiary does not have a good plan in effect (remember, “Everything that can go wrong will go wrong”), then the family will probably need to go to the probation court to validate the inheritance. This is very expensive and time consuming.
5.- Divorce: The divorce court can dictate that part or all of a beneficiary’s estate be handed over to his soon-to-be ex-spouse.
Many people are unaware of these and other dangers of inheritance or direct and unconditional donations. We can help you, we have the experience and knowledge to identify and solve these problems in advance, preventing future problems. Good estate planning saves you headaches today … And your loved ones tomorrow.
