Book on Mediation for Estate Planners
Susan N. Gary recently published a book entitled, Mediation for Estate Planners: Managing Family Conflict (2016). Provided below is a summary of the book:
This book represents an important new resource for attorneys to assist clients in resolving–and avoiding–disputes in an estate planning practice.
Estate planners and elder law practitioners are increasingly aware of the availability of mediation as a tool for resolving family disputes. Probate courts around the country are increasingly interested in encouraging parties to try mediation before resorting to litigation. But by the time a dispute reaches the probate court, damage to family relationships may have already occurred.
Mediation for Estate Planners: Managing Family Conflict provides the basic tools to understand and employ mediation within an estate planning practice and appreciate the usefulness of these alternative dispute resolution processes.
A lawyer familiar with mediation can help clients resolve disputes in a way that accomplishes the client’s personal as well as legal goals. Written by an experienced team of attorneys and mediators, Mediation for Estate Planners:
- Supplies the basic tools to understand and employ mediation within an estate planning practice
- Provides guidance for lawyers in recommending mediation to clients at an early stage so that families are able to resolve disagreements with less damage to personal relationships
- Offers perspectives from both the mediator and the lawyer
- Considers the range of specific applications for mediation, including its use at the planning stage and after death; use in guardianship and conservatorship; end of life decision-making; and more
- Examines and explains the ways that mediation can help in family business succession planning, and much more!
Topics are organized in these sections for ease of use and reference:
- Understanding the essential elements of mediation
- Practical perspectives
- Specific applications in the estate planning and administration context
- Mediator as consultant: family business succession planning
- Arbitration
- Resources for practice, including a Tool Kit, bibliography, and more