Legal

There are some different approaches for keeping your estate out of probate and, under some circumstances, these approaches may be worth considering.  First, there is the possibility of gifting your assets during your lifetime, so that the estate is comprised of less than $150,000 worth of assets at the time of your death; with an estate that size, the assets…

Probate is a court procedure. It is much like an escrow when you are buying a house.  In a probate, all assets that are subject to the procedure become part of the probate estate. There is a fee for filing the probate petition; there is a fee for publishing notice of the probate hearing in the newspaper; there is a…

There are trusts that are created to avoid probate.  Probate avoidance trusts are often called living trusts or revocable trusts. A living trust is a trust that was created to be effective during the life of the person who created it. That person is called the settlor or the trustor, the two words are interchangeable. The opposite of a living…