cabanafrau
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 10, 2006
Do they end up in probate court just "because"? Or are their legal defects in the wills or trusts? I grew up in a household where the book "How to Avoid Probate" was on the book shelf and it helped my mom when my dad died, and me, when my mom died, to avoid not only probate, but outside review of the will. Only document I had to produce was a death certificate and the trust when I sold the house.
Once again, were you not the only child of two parents who were only married to each other? Even in an intestate situation it would have been a simple and uncomplicated matter to have the property pass to you by operation of law. Start factoring in siblings, a step parent, a step parent's children, etc. & the odds of avoiding probate rise dramatically, no matter how well written the will and/or trust(s) or how much the sage tome was consulted.
I am one of two children of two parents only married to one another, with my dad deceased for several years now. Nothing needs to go through probate in our situation because of the way all assets are currently titled, with my sibling or I assuming them upon our mother's death the same way our mother did when our father died intestate. A will is not even necessary the way things are set up.