Deeds of Family Arrangement are used to resolve a dispute about a Will. Generally, when a person feels they have been treated unfairly in a Will and has sought a greater inheritance the parties might agree to resolve the dispute in a Deed of Family Arrangement. The Deed of Family Arrangement involves all of the beneficiaries to the Will and the people whose interest is affected by the challenge to the Will, as well as the Executor and sets out how the parties would like the executor to distribute the estate to resolve the claim of the person who challenged the Will.
Deeds of Family Arrangement are a cost effective approach to resolving Will disputes and save the need for a Court to be involved and save the need for the parties to undergo a stressful, lengthy and expensive trial.
At SA Estate and Succession Lawyers, Deeds of Family Arrangement are the way the majority of our Inheritance Disputes resolve. If the parties are able to reach a resolution without trial that is always in their best interest, but if they can’t then SA Estate and Succession Lawyers can conduct or defend any challenge to a Will in which you may be involved.
Whilst Deeds of Family Arrangement are mostly done after someone has died at SA Estate and Succession Lawyers we believe in preventing challenges to estates and wills by open discussion when everyone is alive. We often create in life Deeds of Family Arrangement where family units speak openly about and plan for the distribution of their estate before anyone has died. We assist in this discussion, facilitate family cohesion and then document the estate plan through an in life Deed of Family Arrangement that reduces the risk of there being a dispute or a challenge to the Will after the willmaker dies.