If you do not know and understand the truth about how different estate planning vehicles work and are administered, you cannot make good, informed decisions on what you want. If you do not understand that certain estate planning vehicles push your assets through Probate Court, the result will not be what you or your loved ones want. Even if you use Trusts, which can be used to avoid Probate Court, assets often still go through Probate Court because they are not properly titled or the proper death beneficiary is not used.
There is a lot of wrong and misleading information out in the public. I’m always amazed how non-professionals or even some lawyers give bad legal Estate Planning advice.
You also have to make sure you understand how Estate Planning works in how it is established, how it is maintained, and how it is administered if you become mentally disabled or when you pass on. If you do not understand how that works and the time, costs, and effort related to each, you won’t be able to make good decisions regarding Estate Planning.
There can also be a financial conflict of interest between what some lawyers do in Estate Planning and what may be best for the client. If your assets go through Probate Court, the lawyer can get a 5% to 7% fee for administering those assets. Therefore, the lawyer could get an approximately $100,000.00 legal fee on administering $2 million worth of assets that move through the Probate Court. Additionally, the client’s family is going to pay Court Costs of up to $6,000.00 per person or $12,000.00 per couple, and could have average delay times of up to 18 months to two years.
We have also seen many cases where individuals that did have some version of a Trust did not have the assets titled in the Trust and, therefore, the assets were forced through Probate Court. Assets that are titled in individual names go through Probate Court. An asset may move by death beneficiary on insurance, an annuity, or Certificate of Deposit or Payable-On-Death accounts and if they are payable to the “estate”, also get pushed through Probate Court.
Therefore, you need to know and understand how different estate planning vehicles work, how assets should be titled, and how the after mental disability or after death administration of those vehicles work as well as the costs, time, and effort required for each.
At the Law Firm of Steven Andrew Jackson, Attorney and Counsellor at Law, we have helped hundreds of families protect themselves and their loved ones, avoid Estate Taxes and Probate Costs, and keep their Estate Plans current with the law through The Customized Protective Estate Planning Solution™.