Personal Finance (Not Investing) • Trust vs Will

... Some people think of probate as a "tax" but it's mostly attorney fees... in either case something good to avoid for your loved ones!

Revocable trusts make sense in some cases and in some states but not in most cases in most states.

Probating the Will is usually a small part of the work in administering an estate.

I respectfully disagree but, as stated in the past, I am most familiar with the costs and delays of California probate which I realize is an outlier and more costly than most states. However, I also add that people should not only focus on death. Conservatorships (which is a probate during life) can be very cumbersome and costly... again, especially in California. In CA the cost of a conservatorship is much more than a trust. As California makes up about 10% of the US population it does hold an outsized percentage so when giving general information like "most cases" that should be considered I believe. Also, I have seen probates in both of your states (as I believe you are licensed in FL and NY) and both were expensive compared to the small/modest estate value. I believe the NY probate costs were similar to CA and the small estate process much more cumbersome in NY than in CA. Florida probate is much less than California but it's far from free. For modest sized estates the cost of even a small Fl ancillary probate is more than the cost of putting the property into a trust. Also, we look at things differently based on our clientele possibly. I believe you deal with high end estates whereas I have dealt with much more middle class situations. In many of these cases there can be zero need, or cost, for an attorney after death if the trust is done right. In fact, I have seen countless situations where there is literally zero cost after death. Also, I should be clear I make my money doing probates not living trusts so anytime I am a proponent for living trusts it is NOT self-serving! Better for me if more people, at least in CA, die without trusts.

Statistics: Posted by Bobby206 — Sun Aug 11, 2024 12:10 pm — Replies 22 — Views 1670

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