Family Mediation: Family Feud - Attorneys Can Use Mediation to Prevent Estate Disputes
By Brian McDonald
Having prepared an estate plan, how does an attorney respond when a clear conflict is raised between family members? What if the attorney represents (or is perceived as representing) more than one family member? Virtually every estate planner recalls the sinking feeling when caught in the middle of warring factions of a client’s family.
The attorney may be faced with questions that, because of confidentiality requirements, he or she may not be able to answer, even if the client is alive and can explain in person why the attorney was directed to prepare the estate plan the way in which he or she did.
