The Importance Of Avoiding Probate
When you die, you will most likely have some assets that you will want to leave to your family. This could be money, land, family heirlooms and many other items or property that you will want your family to inherit. If you die without properly setting up a trust and a proper estate plan, your estate may go into probate. This means that your estate will go through a legal process. If possible, you will want to try and avoid probate for a number of reasons. An estate lawyer, like those at Housecall Wills & Estates, will be able to setup your estate to include a number of ways to avoid probate. This can include a living trust, joint ownership and others. Below are some very important reasons why probate should be avoided.
1. Probate can be very expensive. After attorney's fees, court fees and many other kinds of fees, you could end up losing three to eight percent of the estate's assets. This can be very substantial, but with proper planning, a good estate lawyer and a great estate plan, these assets could have gone to your beneficiaries instead.
2. Your family loses control of estate. When your estate enters the probate process, your family no longer has control of what happens to the estate. The decisions now reside with a judge. This judge will not know your family or what assets should go where. The decision made by the court could be contrary to what you would have desired. This is why it is so important to make sure that you have an estate lawyer that can help avoid this process and make sure that your estate is distributed how you want it to your family and friends.
3. Probate is slow. One of the biggest reasons to avoid probate is because of the slow nature of the courts and legal process. In many instances, probate can take less than a year, but in more complicated scenarios it could take a lot longer, even up to several years. This delays your family and friends from receiving the assets and can make things very messy. If you have a proper will, trust and estate plan that was setup by a qualified estate lawyer, the assets can usually be distributed upon your death. This makes things a lot smoother and easier for everyone.
When it comes to leaving your assets to your loved ones, you will want to make it as easy and pain free as possible. Your estate lawyer will be able to help you avoid probate so that it will not cost a lot and take a long time.