How does an heir protect their part of a Will from constant lawsuits from another heir?

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How does an heir protect their part of a Will from constant lawsuits from another heir?

Can any defense be set up in my Will to protect the constant lawsuits that I expect to happen so that there is not a constant drain ($$) to protect first heir?I feel that heir 2 will keep sueing until heir 1 is out of money or forced to sell .Heir 2 has been adequately taken care of but not something he wants.

Asked on June 4, 2015 under Estate Planning, Indiana

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 8 years ago | Contributor

You could provide some protection by using part of your assets to set up a trust (which could be set up in your will), which trust would only be used to defend heir 1 from heir 2's lawsuits for some period of time (e.g. 10 years), after which, the remaining balance in the trust will be distributed between 1 and 2. That way, heir 1 has  a source of funds to fend off lawsuits; and heir 2 can (hopefully) see that suing heir 1 will only use up funds that otherwise will come to him in 10 years. For that matter, all the funds in the "legal defense trust" could come from heir 2's share, so that heir 2 knows that nobody but him will be hurt by wasting those funds in legal actions...and that if he doesn't take legal action against heir 1, he will get more money in some number of years.


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