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Precise language is critical in wills, trusts and other estate planning documents. A lack of clarity may be an invitation to litigation. An example of this is the dispute that arose after Tom Petty\u2019s death, between his widow and his two daughters from a previous marriage. (The two parties have since resolved their differences and dismissed all litigation matters.)<\/p>\n
Interpreting \u201cequal participation\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Details of the musician\u2019s estate plan aren\u2019t entirely clear. But it appears that his trust appointed his widow as a \u201cdirecting trustee,\u201d while providing that she and his daughters were entitled to \u201cparticipate equally\u201d in the management of his extensive music catalog and other assets. Unfortunately, the trust failed to spell out the meaning of \u201cequal participation,\u201d resulting in litigation between Petty\u2019s widow and daughters over control of his assets.<\/p>\n There are several plausible interpretations of \u201cequal participation.\u201d One interpretation is that each of the three women has an equal vote, giving the daughters the ability to rule by majority.<\/p>\n Another interpretation is that each has an opportunity to participate in the decision-making process, but Petty\u2019s widow has the final say as the directing trustee. Yet another possibility is that Petty intended for the women to make decisions by unanimous consent.<\/p>\n Determining intent<\/strong><\/p>\n If the two parties hadn\u2019t settled their differences out of court, it would have been up to the court to provide an answer based on evidence of Petty\u2019s intent. But the time, expense and emotional strain of litigation may have been avoided by including language in the trust that made that intent clear.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re planning your estate, the Petty case illustrates the importance of using unambiguous language to ensure that your wishes are carried out. And if you anticipate that one or more of your beneficiaries will perceive your plan as unfair, sit down with them to explain your reasoning. This discussion can go a long way toward avoiding future disputes.<\/p>\n Review and revise to make your intent crystal clear<\/strong><\/p>\n If your estate plan has already been drafted and you have concerns regarding the language used, contact your attorney. He or she can review your documents to determine if more precise wording is necessary to make your intentions crystal clear for your family after your death.<\/p>\n \u00a9 2022<\/em><\/p>\n <\/body> Precise language is critical in wills, trusts and other estate planning documents. A lack of clarity may be an invitation to litigation. An example of this is the dispute that arose after Tom Petty\u2019s death, between his widow and his two daughters from a previous marriage. (The two parties have since resolved their differences and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9,10],"tags":[8,11,12],"class_list":["post-15924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-estates","category-news","tag-articles","tag-news","tag-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15924\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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