A Will May Help Your Children Avoid Sandbox Fights

When the second parent dies and there is no Will, supposedly mature adult children may find themselves back in the sandbox fighting like five-year-olds. A Will cannot ensure that such behavior won’t happen, but it may help prevent such ugliness.

Of course, children don’t always fight over the family assets. However, lawyers handling probate (estate administration) matters see fights more often than you might think.

How does a Will help in Minnesota?  First, it is your last conversation with your child. You, the parent, are still in charge since you are talking to your children through your Will.

A Will enables you to nominate someone as the Personal Representative of your estate. This very act can help get the estate administration process off to a good start by avoiding fights among your children as to who will be the Personal Representative.

Think carefully about whom you select as your Personal Representative. It may be best to name just one child, or someone other than your children.

The Personal Representative has broad powers in Minnesota, including the responsibility to find, take possession of, and protect your assets in trust for the benefit of all of your beneficiaries. The Personal Representative’s duties include the management of your assets until the estate administration process is complete, and the payment of your debts from the estate assets.

In Minnesota, the lawyer represents only the Personal Representative. If an adult child is the Personal Representative, the lawyer represents that child only in his or her capacity as a Personal Representative and not as an individual.

As such, the lawyer’s communication will mostly be with the Personal Representative.

A Personal Representative has the right to be paid for his or her estate administration duties in Minnesota. Often, when a family member is the Personal Representative, the Personal Representative does not collect a fee. However, a Personal Representative might want to consider a fee under some circumstances. For example, if there is a house to clean out and tidy up for sale, and the other children balk at helping the Personal Representative complete that task – or aren’t available to help, a fee may provide some fairness.

Another key benefit of having a Will is your ability to designate which of your children or other beneficiaries will get Asset A and which will get Asset B, and so forth. Fights over personal possessions – even possession of little monetary value – are, unfortunately, too common. There are various ways to divide personal possessions while keeping the family peace.

©2013 Wittenburg Law Office, PLLC. All rights reserved.

Disclaimer: This Blog is for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as legal advice. If you have questions, please seek the advice of an attorney. If you are interested in Wittenburg Law’s representation of you, you must contact Wittenburg Law for a determination of whether your matter is one for which Wittenburg Law is willing and able to accept representation of you.

Bonnie Wittenburg, Wittenburg Law Office, PLLC, Minnetonka, MN   952-649-9771 www.bwittenburglaw.com     bonnie@bwittenburglaw.com