Why a trust?

In general, anyone with children or anyone who owns property in California needs a trust. Why? To avoid probate.

Why? If you do NOT have a will or if you ONLY have a will, then your estate must go through probate court when you die. We want to avoid probate in California because:

• It’s a public proceeding

• It takes 18-24 months before anything gets anywhere

• It’s super expensive. The cost of probate is a percentage of the gross assets. It costs:

            4% of the first $100,000

            3% of the next $100,000

            2% of the next $800,000

            1% of the next $9,000,000

            .5% of the next $15,000,000

This is equivalent to $23,000 for a million dollar gross estate — which is both for the executor AND for the attorney that is hired (aka up to $46,000).

One way to avoid probate is to set up a trust. A trust holds your assets while you’re alive: your title your house and your bank accounts and your assets in the name of the trust — and then you use the trust to gift to people when you die. (Sort of the same idea of what a will does, but you do it with a trust instead.)

Contact me for a complimentary consultation and I’ll explain more – and I’ll make sure the information is specifically about your circumstance.