Discover practical strategies to manage emotional triggers, navigate complex family dynamics, and address the deep-rooted personal conflicts driving inheritance battles.
Inheritance disputes are rarely driven by legal issues alone. While disagreements may centre on the validity of a will, allegations of undue influence, promises made during a lifetime, or claims against an estate, the underlying causes often stem from decades of family history, unresolved conflict, perceived unfairness, communication breakdowns, and competing expectations. As a result, legal rights and remedies alone may not be enough to achieve a meaningful resolution.
For private client practitioners, understanding the human dynamics behind inheritance disputes is becoming increasingly important. Clients are often navigating grief, family tensions, damaged relationships, and emotional decision-making at the same time as complex legal issues. Traditional litigation can sometimes exacerbate these challenges, creating significant financial and emotional costs for families while reducing the value of the estate itself.
This session examines the psychological and relational factors that frequently underpin inheritance disputes and explores how lawyers can better identify, manage, and resolve conflict. Participants will gain practical insight into mediation, conflict dynamics, negotiation strategies, and approaches that can help families move beyond entrenched positions toward more sustainable outcomes.
Key Topics Discussed:
Mediator & Family Conflict Coach | Dove in the Room
Julia Burns is a contentious private client mediator through her own practice, Dove in the Room. She has extensive experience mediating inheritance, trust and estate disputes for high-net-worth families, trustees, charities and professional advisers. Qualifying as a solicitor in 2005, she has specialised in contentious private client work since 2007, including six years at a leading national law firm. Julia founded Dove in the Room in 2019 to provide a calm, discreet and constructive way for clients to resolve high-value and emotionally charged disputes outside court. She also co-mediates complex, multi-party cases as a founder of Inheritance Co-Mediation, a model particularly effective for high-value family and trust disputes. In addition, Julia works as a conflict coach, helping families and private individuals navigate sensitive succession issues with clarity and insight. Julia combines legal expertise with a deep understanding of the emotional and relational dynamics that underpin family wealth and legacy. She describes her mediation style as that of an “empathetic provocateur”, bringing calm authority and appropriate challenge to help parties address difficult issues and reach workable outcomes all parties can live with. Julia was shortlisted for Civil & Commercial Mediator of the Year at the 2022 National Mediation Awards.
