Five Basic Reasons Inheritance Fights Occur

Many estate planners witness family fights over inheritance matters. Even if a family fight does not irrupt, it is not uncommon for family tension to develop following the death of a loved one. Typically, however, estate planning fights relate back to previous family problems that simply resurface during estate administration. In some cases, these family feuds can be overcome and even prevented through the use of family counseling.  Five basic reasons why family members fight over inheritance matters are below:

1. Humans are genetically predisposed to competition and conflict
2. A human’s psychological sense of self is intertwined with the approval that an inheritance can represent
3. Humans are genetically hardwired to be on the lookout for exclusion (sometimes finding it where it doesn’t exist)
4. Families fight because the death of a loved one activates the death anxieties of those left behind
5. Occasionally, one or more family members has a partial or full-blown personality disorder that causes them to distort or escalate natural family rivalries into personal and legal battles 

See P. Mark Accettura, J.D, Blood & Money: Why Families Fight Over Inheritance, 5 The WealthCounsel Quarterly 1 (Oct. 2011).

Special thanks to (Jim Hillhouse) WealthCounsel for bringing this article to my attention.