Avoiding Battles Over Personal Property

The distribution of tangible personal property is the leading cause of family disputes in probate administration. More family disputes are caused by division of jewelry and family heirlooms than money. Frequently, these fights occur in blended families where the parents may have heirlooms earmarked for children from a prior marriage, rather than a second spouse and /or his or her children. Estate planning lawyers have developed many techniques to help reduce these problems and to avoid having off-duty police officers attend meetings among family members to select personal property.  For more information, go to our December 2011 newsletter.