Disputes and Estate Litigation Attorney in San Mateo, California

Cost of Litigation

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Well, it’s a developing area of law, and generally that’s starts in the planning process. This is – litigation generally is the decedent has died, the trustor has died, but if you can be in the planning process, you need to identify the issues. And you cannot, as a planner, ask enough what-if questions and anticipate the potential conflicts or friction points in the estate plan. Years past, in the planning process, we were very isolated. we would talk to the parent or the parents, if it’s a joint plan, and leave everyone else out of that conversation. The modern trend is to bring the family together and talk about areas of potential conflicts. Bring in mediators during lifetime or even after the administration. These are people that are skilled in asset and family dynamics.

As we like to say in this firm, “Every family is dysfunction. It’s just a matter of degree.” So that usually promotes some problem is going to be a problem. You just have to work to define it and then work around it. So if we can get to that discussion during lifetime, we can avoid the litigation down the road. If it’s after that process, then we want to work with that trustee to be as transparent as possible and to make sure that the communication is accurate and obvious.

California estate planing and litigation attorney, Paul Barulich, explains how to keep the legal costs down during estate litigation.

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