"It is a great time to cross this off your TO-DO list before the end of the year. Trust me, it is something we all procrastinate. Don't wait till it's too late. Time is crucial.
Plantation Hill is a family tale that portrays real-life everyday problems when it comes to what generations of your family worked so hard to build over the years. It was a painful experience that I have personally and professionally gone through.
With 23 years of experience as a real estate broker, I have seen numerous fights over inheritance with families fighting over things as trivial as daddy's underwear and doors locked changed to keep family members out. The obsession with material things left behind can be mind-boggling.
Why do families fight over inheritance?
It happens all the time. Are you prepared to handle it? Most of us are not. Everyone has secrets, and we will never know what's hidden in someone's mind, no matter how long we have known them. The mind is like a large vault closed with no combination. Your birthright can become your worst nightmare.
Families tend to behave at their worst when a loss is involved. The emotions that come out, even if you don't have anything to lose, can make things worse. Emotions can escalate quickly, leading to fights, both figuratively and literally, such as scratching, punching, and pulling hair. Even when there is no potential conflict, nearly every family has some underlying tension when it comes to the issues surrounding inheritance.
Stories of conflicted families at the death of a loved one are not uncommon. I have learned that what appears as greed and pettiness are symptoms of survivors struggling to feel loved and important. The fight for money and things, such as dad's watch or mom's wedding ring, is not about the object or the money itself, but about what they symbolize: importance, love, security, self-esteem, connectedness, and immortality.
Sometimes it becomes a game. The saying that "money makes people do horrible things" doesn't do justice to the root causes of family conflict. Money is not the real reason families fight; it is how we keep score in the fight for love, approval, and survival.
Money and possessions soften the fear of letting go of our loved ones. Families fighting for their inheritance can trace their problems back several years if not all the way back to childhood. For some, the trouble starts with the involvement of nonfamily members. Everything changed when their parents remarried, and an in-law started calling the shots. And great example is in the story PLANTATION HILL.
Inheritance conflict is not something that comes out of the blue. It is a continuation of long-term relationship problems that resurface upon the death of a loved one. These fights are not just about money or greed; they are about more. The loss brings out the need to gain, and people are willing to fight for it.
What is it that drives people to wage war against their own flesh and blood over a loved one's estate?
It's hard to understand, but it happens, even leading to murder. There are reasons why families fight for their inheritance. Greed is an emotion that can heat up and become the poison in the cocktail for family rivalry and conflict. Our sense of self is entwined with inheritance, and it represents approval that you are alive, especially when the decedent is a parent.
Read the novel PLANTATION HILL, and you will understand greed. It's shocking! Eventually, it will arrive at everyone's front door."
Family is a sticky subject.