When you plan your estate, providing for your loved ones is often priority number one. You want to make the transition as stress-free as possible, minimize costs, get property in their hands quickly, and distribute assets fairly. You can often accomplish these goals through probate avoidance—creating legal documents that pass property to new owners without court involvement.
At Robbins Estate Law, we can help you design an estate plan that works for you and your family. We understand that the core of estate planning is usually the core of your life—your family. We can help you keep them front and center. Contact us to speak about your probate avoidance options.
What Is Probate?
When someone dies, their property must go to new owners, typically through probate court. There, the court appoints a personal representative who manages the estate’s affairs, contacts those who need to be aware of the process, inventories properties and liabilities, satisfies debts, and distributes assets.
What Is Probate Avoidance?
Probate avoidance is a technique to avoid probate court that may involve several strategies based on your unique needs. These strategies all include a way for property to transfer when you die without probate court.
Why Avoid Probate?
Minimizing or avoiding probate usually saves time, money, and stress. Probate opens the door to various complications, which can result in expenses piling up. Even if everyone plays nice, probate can still take months or more than a year, leaving the property in limbo. By avoiding probate, you can exercise more control over your property and prevent disputes from arising.
Decedent-Related Probate Complications
Many factors influence how long probate takes, like whether the decedent had:
- A comprehensive estate plan,
- A will,
- Easily identifiable legal heirs,
- Complex properties,
- Many debts, or
- Organized records.
Generally, the more organized and comprehensive your plan is, the fewer complications can arise.
Complications Caused By Others
Unfortunately, infighting between the people who are or might be entitled to estate property can drag proceedings out, too. These interested parties may, for example:
- Challenge a will,
- Conceal property, or
- Take or sell property without permission.
The representative can also fail to perform their duties promptly, or snags may arise in the technical aspects of property transfer. Throughout, your loved ones wrack up court costs, attorney’s fees, and other expenses.
How Can You Avoid Probate?
With the help of an experienced estate planning lawyer, you can minimize or even eliminate the need for probate using strategies like:
- Trust creation,
- Beneficiary designation,
- Joint accounts and ownership rights, and
- Transfer on death deeds.
You may use one of these strategies or combine several to create your plan.
Trusts
Trusts are versatile property management tools. The person who creates a trust is the trust grantor, settlor, or creator. Those who benefit from the trust are beneficiaries, and the trust manager is a trustee. Beneficiaries can have a present interest in the trust or a future interest that becomes active after a condition occurs.
Trusts can be revocable or irrevocable. They can also be living (inter vivos) or testamentary (after death). Because testamentary trusts generally come from your last will and testament, they play little role in probate avoidance.
A revocable living trust is the typical probate avoidance trust. In a revocable living trust, you typically make yourself trustee and present beneficiary. You also designate at least one future trustee and at least one future beneficiary to take over upon your death.
Irrevocable living trusts can also provide valuable benefits. For example, Medicaid planning trusts allow you to reduce or avoid paying out-of-pocket for long-term care needs. These trusts can maximize what you leave your loved ones and bypass probate.
Beneficiary Designations
Another strategy is designating beneficiaries in:
- Life insurance,
- Payable-on-death (POD) provisions,
- Bank accounts,
- Retirement accounts, and
- Other financial accounts.
Keeping designations up-to-date is essential. Without a valid, current designation, these properties may go to your estate, forcing them through probate.
Joint Ownership and Joint Accounts
You can also create joint accounts or jointly own property. Joint accounts that pass to the survivor upon one dying bypass probate. You can also jointly own property with a right of survivorship, allowing the property to transfer automatically to the survivor upon death.
Transfer on Death Deed
Texas law allows transfer-on-death deeds (TODDs), where you designate who should receive your real property when you die. You keep the property until you die when it transfers directly to the person you select.
How Can You Minimize Probate Complications?
Entirely avoiding probate may not be possible for every estate. Depending on the circumstances, you may still reduce the burdens of probate by:
- Crafting an estate plan that allows your loved ones to probate your will as a muniment of title;
- Minimizing the amount you own and paying off all debts so that your loved ones can use a small estate affidavit; or
- Declaring your desire for independent estate administration in your will.
These options all simplify the probate process and minimize time in court.
Avoiding Probate Through a Comprehensive Estate Plan
Knowing which strategies to implement and how is no simple matter, but the lawyers at Robbins Estate Law are here to help.
Contact us to learn more about how we can tailor your unique estate plan to minimize or avoid probate, allowing you to reduce the time and money burdens on your loved ones after your death.
Kyle Robbins
Kyle Robbins is the founder and sole owner of The Law
Offices of Kyle Robbins. He received his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law and his B.S. in Food Chemistry and Microbiology from Oklahoma State University.
Rate this Post
Loading...