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

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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