Avoiding Probate

Probate, as discussed earlier, is a full blown court proceeding which monitors and regulates the establishment of guardianships/conservatorships and decedent’s estates. All aspects are subject to Court control.

Probate is a much misaligned process. Many writers say that it should be avoided at all costs. Some have enough background and understanding to know that probate does serve a purpose. It provides a process, for those who have to care for you, when you have not planned, to obtain control of your assets and your physical person in order to pay your bills and get medical attention while you are alive but mentally incapacitated. For those who will not plan, it provides a will upon death, but not necessarily the will you would have chosen had you planned for it. Probate also provides a dispute resolution process for creditors who say they are owed money, or when loved ones or not-so-loved ones say they were supposed to be included in your estate and were not, or when the person who wrongfully influenced the incapacitated or deceased took the money. Perhaps the physically ill person wanted to be kept alive, but someone that has gained control tries to take out a feeding tube or prematurely bring about your death. Our casebooks are full of schemes and machinations to get control of another person or that person’s assets. Without the Court, and some form of “Probate” these wrongs could not be redressed.

For most people with a properly planned estate, probate, court and government involvement in personal and financial affairs can and should be avoided.

Call me for an appointment to help your estate avoid probate.