My wife's mother had trust and will and the will never had to be probated. The attorney who wrote the trust had some workaround for incidental items. In this case, my wife was the sole heir of everything.
Yes I agree it can definitely be relatively cheap and simple. That is the case with most estates anyway. Even wealthy people without trusts have most of their assets pass via beneficiary designation (investment accounts, retirement accounts).But if the estate subject to probate (i.e., the part outside the trust) can qualify for your state's "small estate" procedure, then you don't have to deal with the court or pay any fees to it. Maybe you would have to pay some fees for notarization.So you'll likely have a will. And if you die with a will, that will is going to have to be certified and accepted via the probate process.
So if you're setting up a trust simply to avoid any and all probate fees or filings, save your time and money.
I was just chiming in to say that 100% avoiding any heir (or trustee or executor) having to talk to a lawyer or deal with the court system at all is not really achievable in most cases.
Statistics: Posted by Meg77 — Sat Mar 30, 2024 12:22 pm — Replies 18 — Views 978
