3 Good Reasons To Create A Probate-Avoiding Estate Plan

Reason 1: Your estate will have more money.

When you avoid the often lengthy and complicated probate process,  more money can be distributed to your beneficiaries. Even if your probate case is simple and does not have any problems or conflicts, it can still last many months. During this time, your estate will have to pay for the maintenance fees to keep your property managed as well as pay for any legal fees associated with the probate attorney and executor.

Reason 2: Your estate will be private.

Any time your estate property passes through probate, the records become open to public inspection. All probate cases are open record cases, meaning that anyone who wishes to can inspect the records and find out every detail about your estate. If you want to keep it private you’ll have to use other non-probate transfer methods, such as creating a trust or using transfer-on-death accounts.

Reason 3: You can dictate your own transfer choices.

Whenever a probate court gets involved, the court may intervene in your case if something goes wrong or if there is a conflict. By structuring your estate so that you avoid having to go through probate, you can ensure that your wishes are followed without any interference by the probate court. While you may not be able to guarantee that all your property passes outside of probate, you and your estate planning lawyer can work on a comprehensive plan that will cover as much property as legally allowable.