Tags
Abatement, Ademption, Ademption by Extinction, Beneficiaries, Bequests, Common Estates, Contest The Will, Estate Planning, General Bequests, Heirlooms, probate, Probate Avoidance Strategy, Probate Court, Residuary Beneficiaries, Specific Bequests, testator, Will
Typically, careful estate planning will avoid abatement and ademption. However, people with common estates know little about abatement and ademption and fail to plan properly. As a result, the probate court ends up deciding the distribution of bequests through abatement or ademption.
To avoid abatement and ademption, the testator must prepare a coherent estate plan and keep it updated. If the testator uses the process described in the article The First Step to Estate Planning: Estimate Your Net Worth, then avoiding abatement and ademption is possible.