Many gay people face hostility from inside their families, even today, which can step up a level when a gay partner is introduced.  Sometimes the situation improves with the passage of time and a degree of acceptance appears to have developed.  Often that abruptly changes when the person dies and the homophobic family will not accept that their relative’s life partner is the benefactor of the relative’s entire estate and not them.  Often when a challenge is made to the will it heralds the start of a long and upsetting legal battle that does nothing but seriously erode both the partner’s equanimity the considerably reduces the estate, in some cases the entire inheritance.

Most people have a clear idea who they wish to be their benefactors and nobody wants a third party, whom you have not chosen to include in your will, to attempt to claim your hard-earned inheritance.  Of course you will want your loved one to have peace of mind at such a difficult time and not have to fight a legal battle for something that is rightfully theirs.  The lawyers at Gay Lawyers, the LGBTQ division of Giambrone, frequently encounter poorly drafted wills without sufficient clarity leaving loopholes for relatives to try to snatch assets that were not intended for them, sometimes threatening the roof over the head of the surviving partner.

Another aspect that should be considered is that families are far more complex than in past decades and gay couples frequently have families, with children from a past heterosexual marriage, adopted children and children by surrogates.  Also, not everyone is in a marriage or civil partnership, unmarried couples are particularly vulnerable.  It is not uncommon for people to have assets in more than one country or to live abroad.  If you have retired to Italy for example, without a will, your estate will be disposed of under the Italian laws of succession which divides the estate between a person’s family members.

Entrepreneurs have added considerations and if they want their business to continue such things as commercial premises involved or assets and plant essential to the running of the business that need to be protected against the possibility of being liquidated thereby preventing the business continuing.

All the potential problems that could surround your will can be avoided by ensuring that your will is drafted by lawyers with a truly comprehensive understanding of the potential issues that LGBTQ people may face and are capable of drafting your will in terms that are absolutely explicit and provide an unshakeable cast iron will that will deliver your estate to exactly the person or persons you care about the most.

Gay Lawyers has considerable experience in assisting our LGBTQ clients in drafting wills aimed at protecting assets from predatory relatives but also have considerable experience prising the fingers of homophobic family members off an inheritance that was not intended for them. 

If you would like to take every step to ensure that your inheritance is delivered to the people you want to advantage when you are no longer able to oversee your own affairs lawyers in Gay Lawyers will be able to give your peace of mind.