Oct 30 2011

What is Estate Litigation?

Each jurisdiction deals with estate litigation in its own way and processes.

With our aging populations in Canada and the USA, estate litigation is on the rise. It’s not a commentary on the populace; instead it’s simply a result of an aging population. Moreover, the aging population has considerable resources which is usually a prerequisite for estate litigation.

What is estate litigation?

Estate litigation generally involves a claim where a will is in dispute. Either a person not named in the will, or someone named in the will who is not pleased with the terms of the will.

Often, when estate litigation starts, it will be “defended” by any of the other beneficiaries and/or the executor. Sometimes estate litigation ends up in trial; other times it resolves by way of negotiation or litigation before a trial.

There are other issues in estate litigation

Estate litigation doesn’t always involve a disputed will. It could involve creditors or a tort action against the estate. For example, if a creditor of the deceased claims to be owed money by the deceased, then that claim generally follows to the estate. If the executor disputes the creditor’s claim, then estate litigation may follow.

Tort actions, often for personal injury, may be the basis for estate litigation as well. For example, if an injured person claims the deceased was negligent, and that negligence caused injury, the injured person’s tort claim goes against the estate. Before an estate is distributed, the tort action must be resolved.

Estate litigation often involves many parties

Because there are often many beneficiaries of an estate, estate litigation may involve many parties. Each party may hire their own lawyer. In some cases several parties will hire the same lawyer. It all depends on the outcome each party seeks. For example, if 3 parties seek the same outcome, and therefore have the same interests, then they may decide to hire one lawyer to act for all of them.

Oct 25 2011

Divorce Services: Are They Worth It?

There are a lot of people out there that will tell you that the online divorce services are not worth it. The thing is though, the people saying such things are generally high priced attorneys, hoping that they can keep bringing people into their offices to pay their overpriced wages. After all, why send an online service a few dollars when you can send the attorney’s thousands of dollars?

Obviously, you are going to want to save yourself as much money as possible and getting yourself set up with a reputable online divorce service is just one of the many ways that you can do this.

So just what will these online services help you with? How are they different from an attorney? How are these services from doing everything on your own? For starters, you don’t need the online divorce services. You can actually find all of the needed paperwork on your own and file it with the courthouse on your own.

There are restrictions on what to file and when, so you will have to figure all of that out. This is not to say that you cannot do that, because you certainly can, but you are probably going to find yourself dealing with a lot right now and for the next several months. Wouldn’t it much easier to have someone else help you with a lot of what you have to do for the divorce?

You could just hire an attorney, but just to get started, you are looking at close to a couple thousand dollars, if not more, even for the most reasonable divorce. That is a lot of money that could otherwise be put to very good use.

With the money that you would find yourself paying to an attorney, you could pay off some debt, set yourself up in a new place or even take a well deserved mini vacation. Either way, it is your hard earned money and if your divorce does not require an attorney, there is no sense paying for one.

You will of course want to make sure that you are hiring the best possible online divorce service. There are surely going to be some out there that are better than others.

It is extremely important to make sure that you are doing all that you can in order to get the best assistance possible. If you want a little bit of a helping hand with your divorce, without having to spend thousands of dollars on an attorney that bills you every time you call for a quick question, then you are going to want to go with the online divorce services.

Keep in mind that using online divorce services will not include legal advice. If you require legal advice, then consult an attorney.

Oct 05 2011

Divorce Might Be Cheaper Without An Attorney

A divorce will take a personal toll on someone, no matter if this was a mutual decision or not. A marriage ending is never a fun thing. It costs a lot of money. Generally, both people in the divorce will find themselves stuck with expenses that they might not have been solely responsible for in the past.

You might be splitting the mutual debt, but now the two incomes that were paying for one household are now paying for two. This is the time when money is going to be very tight. Paying thousands and thousands of dollars to an attorney does not make it much better. Just to hire an attorney, you are generally looking at having to pay out at least $750. You will most likely pay a lot more on top of that. And those are just the fees for your attorney as you ex will pay the same for his or hers.

Imagine what you could do with all of the money spent on an attorney. You could set yourself up in a new place. You could put that money down on your personal debts. The two of you could pull together the money you both would have spent on an attorney and pay off debts that were yours together.

The choice is yours. Either way, no matter how you look at things, you are going to find that filling for a divorce without the help of a hired attorney is going to be much cheaper for everyone involved.

Why drag things out if you don’t have to? When the two parties can agree on what the arrangements are, everything will run smoother and everything will be a lot more affordable. You might not agree on everything at first, but give it some time. If you can both agree that the two of you would rather not spend thousands of dollars on attorneys, then you are going to find that the two of you will eventually come to some sort of agreement with each other. Just give it a little time.

So, just how does someone move forward with a divorce without the help of an attorney? Doesn’t an attorney need to be present to file documents with the courts?

In short, the answer is no, an attorney does not have to be present. This is something that you can do on your own. You might be a little intimidated now, but once you get it all done and over with, you will be able to look back and see just how easy everything truly turned out to be.

If you want a little guidance, there is always the option of online divorce services. You will find that these services are fairly affordable and are incredibly easy to make use of. There are a lot of them out there though, so you are going to want to make sure that you are taking your time to review as many as possible. This way, with a reputable online divorce service by your side, you will be able to handle the divorce without too much stress.

Note, if you require legal advice, then it is advisable to seek legal advice from an attorney.