Receiving an inheritance is one of the few upsides of going through the traumatic experience of losing a close relative, but it is not always an easy process. Even in the most straightforward of cases, there are all kinds of legal hoops to jump through just to have access to what was promised in the last will and testament.

Things only get more complex when more people than expected start getting involved in what surviving relatives believe is rightfully theirs. The battle of who gets what can become very ugly, very quickly, and occasionally, it even gets going before somebody passes. 

It is not a pleasant thing to experience from any perspective, and it is easy for it to start to feel like a lost cause. It is advisable to get ahead in these matters where possible, but that also involves a lot of tact and sensitivity in many cases.