Parents of adult children drafting estate plans may want to make the fairest arrangements they can. When they know their children are likely to fight over certain property, they may develop more thorough estate plans to limit that risk.
Many times, testators with adult children focus on leaving assets with roughly the same value to each of their children. In some cases, parents even order the sale of resources to prevent disputes over those assets after their passing. Sometimes, emotional attachment rather than financial value could trigger conflict among adult children when a parent dies. In such cases, an inheritance or probate lottery arrangement could be appropriate.
What is a probate or inheritance lottery?
Most estate plans include clear instructions regarding which assets should pass to specific beneficiaries. However, parents may not want to seem like they favor one child or trigger conflict while they are still alike by making difficult decisions ahead of time.
They may instead identify assets that each of their children might desire and may leave instructions to randomly allocate those assets. A lottery system allows the personal representative to randomly select beneficiaries to inherit assets that multiple people desire.
Such arrangements are often useful in cases involving personal property with significant emotional value. Those utilizing this system to minimize conflict may also need to carefully select a personal representative to ensure that the lottery process is actually neutral and random.
The right estate planning terms can significantly help reduce the likelihood of conflict among beneficiaries during estate administration. Randomly selecting who inherits assets desired by all beneficiaries can sometimes help prevent probate conflicts among family members.