by Ryan Conklin

For some succession plans, conflict is unavoidable. Lawsuits or busted succession plans can stem from challenging family dynamics, a farm business, money and numerous other reasons.

Managing conflict or preventing it are complex goals to accomplish in a succession plan. It takes a combination of communication, controlling expectations and creative legal drafting.

Your legal counsel has several tools that can help keep a lid on potential conflict through the planning and administration processes. Two of those tools are conditions of inheritance and a contest clause.

Conditions of inheritance in a will or trust are actions or omissions a beneficiary needs to fulfill to get their distribution. For example, a will might require a child to stay sober for a period of one year after the date of death. After a year of sobriety, the child receives their inheritance.

When drafting these clauses, make sure the condition is measurable and attainable. Avoid subjective things such as “son must be nice to his family,” criminal activity or requirements to divorce an existing spouse.

Your attorney can also add a contest clause to your will or trust. In simple terms, a contest clause states that any beneficiary who initiates a lawsuit related to your will or trust may be disinherited altogether. This means any beneficiary who tries to challenge your plan would need to be very careful, lest they risk spending a bunch of money on legal fees and losing all inheritance.

Distinguishing between these two tools, conditions of inheritance are optional to include in your will or trust. Inclusion of these conditions would depend on your goals and your unique farm or family situations. On the other hand, contest clauses are a must-have in your will or trust. This reflects our public goal of reducing litigation around estate administrations.

When discussing lawsuits, there is one simple point to remember: Anyone can sue anyone for anything. Legal drafting is not designed to prevent all lawsuits. However, your attorney can draft a will or trust to deter disputes, incentivize good behavior and give one side a stronger argument to win a case.

If conflict is likely to surround your family or farm after your passing, you are probably past due for putting a plan together. If you created a succession plan years ago and family dynamics or farm conditions have changed, schedule a review meeting with your legal counsel. Consider the use of inheritance conditions or a contest clause as a path to keeping a lid on legal disputes after you pass away.

Conklin is an attorney and owner of Wright & Moore Law Co. LPA.