Anticipating Beneficiary Challenges in Estate Plans and Administration

This CLE course will guide estates counsel on navigating beneficiary challenges to trusts and estate administration. The panel will discuss legal framework and key considerations for beneficiary challenges, risk factors in identifying problematic beneficiaries, as well as trust provisions, and will outline specific steps and practices to protect the trust drafter, trustee, and trust protector or adviser from challenges.

Fiduciary litigation involving trusts and estates continues to rise, with estate planners and fiduciary advisers facing increased risk of challenges to estate plans. A critical task for estate planning counsel is structuring an estate plan to follow the intent of the grantor while also protecting beneficiaries, trustees, and the professional preparing the instrument.

Planning professionals must recognize client situations that contain heightened risk for beneficiary litigation to challenge an estate plan. Where a will or trust document provides for disinheritance, disproportionate distribution, or liquidity, the risk of challenge increases. Counsel should practice a degree of defensive planning to head off common beneficiary challenges.

Estate planners can minimize damage from a challenge by carefully documenting the stages of the estate plan, from the intake and initial meeting through any communication with the client or interested parties. Counsel should also consider additional defensive strategies in drafting estate documents and at the execution of the will or trust to minimize the risk of beneficiary challenges.

Listen as our experienced panel provides a practical guide to using defensive estate planning strategies to minimize the risk and impact of beneficiary challenges.