Should you fear probate? No, but you should avoid it. Let me explain what it is so you understand why you should avoid it with customized and affordable estate planning.

What is It?

Legally speaking, it is court supervision of distributing a person’s assets after death. It can be an informal process with minimal court intervention or a formal process with more court involvement if there is no will or someone contests the will. It needs to be initiated by a Personal Representative who was named in a will or otherwise has priority to serve (such as a surviving spouse or child).

Unfortunately, even if you have a will you don’t avoid probate unless you also qualify as a small estate. If you own any real estate in your personal name when you die or have more than $100,000 in your name, you don’t qualify as a small estate. Small estates can utilize a small estate affidavit to transfer property to heirs. All the rest of us need to worry about probate.

Probate is Expensive

Best case scenario: you call the attorney who drafted the will and they say they can assist the probate process for $3,000 – $5,000. Worst case scenario: the attorney says they cannot help you at all because they don’t handle probate. So you must find another law firm or do it yourself to save some money. Keep reading to see why this process is too difficult to do by yourself.

Probate is Complex

Look at a summary of the steps involved in informal probate of an estate:

• • Personal Representative must initiate probate by filing an Application for Informal Probate with the court
  • A judge issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration to give authority to the Personal Representative to act on behalf of the estate
  • Personal Representative must send formal Notice to all the legal heirs and any other person or organization that inherits part of the estate
  • Personal Representative must publish Notice to Creditors in the local newspaper; file an Affidavit of Publication; and wait 4 months for all claims
  • Personal Representative must inventory all the assets in the estate
  • Personal Representative must pay the creditor’s debts with estate assets
  • Personal Representative must retitle estate assets to remove decedent’s name (the name of the person who died)
  • Personal Representative must distribute estate to heirs and obtain a signed Receipt and Release from anyone receiving a distribution
  • Personal Representative must file an Informal Verification Statement to close probate

Probate Increases Stress on Your Grieving Family

If your estate goes through probate, all the steps listed above are forced onto someone who just lost you. They are dealing with emotions of grief and loss. Your family will be preparing for your funeral and burial and gathering to remember you. Therefore, it is not a good time for them to wonder about legal responsibilities and costs. As time goes on, your Personal Representative may face questions from your heirs asking why everything is taking so long. It takes an average of 6 – 9 months to complete probate in Idaho and finish distributing all your assets to the people you want to inherit from you. You can avoid placing this stress on your Personal Representative and your family by avoiding probate completely.

Your Assets Can Avoid It

The process discussed above only applies to assets in your probate estate. However, some of your assets can pass to your beneficiaries without court supervision.

First, many assets transfer directly to your beneficiary because they are transfer on death or pay on death accounts such as bank accounts or retirement accounts. The court can’t touch these accounts and the beneficiary simply needs to present your death certificate to receive the assets.

Second, assets placed into a Revocable Living Trust are not in your name and not subject to court supervision. So you can remove assets from your personal name and place it into the name of a Trust to avoid probate.

Don’t you want to avoid the expensive, complex, time-consuming, and stressful hassles of probate? Schedule a consultation with me and we can discuss an estate plan that solves the dilemma.