What is Probate?
What is a Probate? Probate in California is a long, expensive, and public courtroom process, with results that most people don’t want. Don’t let this happen to you–avoid it by drafting an estate plan instead of a will.
What is probate? It’s a long, drawn-out process to figure out who should manage your property after death. If property has to go through probate, it can be especially long when families attempt to do it alone and make a mistake. If you choose to hire an attorney to help you, the cost skyrockets because of the fixed probate fee schedule. And because the courts are involved, your family affairs will be public for the whole world to see. Worse, there’s no choice in where your property goes because the law has predetermined the default plan for all estates.
Why Avoid Probate?
Why avoid probate? Here’s the top four reasons to avoid probate:
- Probate Lag Time. Probate could cause delays for years after the date of death, leading to stress and loss of property and money.
An heir’s probate inheritance must wait, sometimes years, until the court concludes the case.
And if the probate is contested, the case could go to trial, causing long delays.
If the deceased owned a valuable business that an heir is set to inherit, that business may end up dead in the water waiting for the court to act, causing disastrous results for the business, its employees, and the family.
Meanwhile, the mortgage and tax bills are still coming in and interest payments from creditors pile up. Sometimes family members feel compelled to use their own money to avoid foreclosure on a house before the court even issues an order to sell the property. - Probate Cost. It is extremely expensive. A three-million-dollar valued estate may pay anywhere from 60 to 70 thousand dollars in court costs, and representative and attorney fees in California before ever paying an inheritance. Even $500,000 in property can pay up to $30,000 in probate fees and costs.
Some families in California are tempted to draft an estate plan without a lawyer, but a single mistake is costlier. And if your estate plan’s legal validity is questioned, it could lead to a lengthy litigation process with higher probate fees. - Probate Court Publicity. Probate is a public courtroom process. There may be things in your family’s finances that you don’t want aired in open court. Most families don’t want to advertise how much money they have and what assets they hold, yet all of it is reported to the court. Commonly, real estate professionals use public court filings to call the family asking if/when they want to sell the family home. The probate process requires you and your legal team to follow a publishing schedule in a newspaper, letting the world know you have started, where your case is, and who is in charge.
- Probate Heirs. By default, California probate law does not discriminate between beneficiaries regardless of age, need, or wealth. An eighteen-year-old child with an inheritance of hundreds of thousands of dollars could be taken advantage of and quickly lose everything. A developmentally disabled child’s inheritance could be wasted on medical care that would have been provided free of charge by the state. A successful sibling and a poor sibling would evenly split an inheritance, despite the fairness of the result. And although a will, which is like a letter to the court, can discriminate between beneficiaries, it does not avoid the time, publicity and expense of probate.
What Probate Alternatives Are There?
Do you want to avoid the potentially disastrous consequences of probate? Save time, money, stress, and uncertainty with a trust drafted by our team, instead. With our trusts, your family could receive the bulk of their gifts within months without the hassle of probate courts figuring out who should take charge, pay the bills, and manage your estate. For example, a trust could eliminate up to 85% of the probate fees or more. Our clients save thousands of dollars in probate fees, and we can help you too.
Who wouldn’t want all that extra money?
Instead of waiting years for their default inheritance, your family could begin receiving payments from your estate right away. Often, we can help your family receive the majority of their inheritance in a fraction of the time of probate.
Your family can’t wait until it’s too late – avoid probate and get an estate plan with us today.
Free Probate Avoidance & Trust Planning Consultation Rocklin Attorney