Estate looting 101: how the goods are gotten when the will gets in the way

Posted by: Jessie Bruyn

The looting of estate assets, also known as Involuntary Redistribution of Assets (IRA), can occur through the use of various probate instruments - wills, trusts, guardianships, powers of attorney - and with the actual acts configured in different ways. Guardianships or powers of attorney can provide for estate looting while a person is alive, but asset diversion can be perpetrated posthumously via wills or trusts. Whether these acts are instigated by greedy lawyers, disgruntled family members or wannabe heirs (or often a combination), the sad reality is that death doesn’t necessarily bring the closure one might expect. Death, even with the most meticulous of estate plans, in no way ensures the honoring of a decedent’s wishes or heirs' avoidance of IRA.

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