If you’re just starting to consider your legacy, when you begin looking into the subject of estate planning you will see the topic of probate avoidance mentioned quite a bit. With this in mind let’s provide some of background.

Everyone has heard of the last will, and if you use your last will as the only document that states your wishes with regard to how you would like to see your assets distributed after you pass away your estate is going to pass through probate. That sounds simple enough, so why would anyone want to avoid probate? There are two reasons that most people would mention right off the bat. For one there are considerable costs involved with the probate process, including court costs, the executor’s remuneration, probate attorney fees, accountant fees, appraisal charges, and liquidation expenses.

There is also a time lag that comes along with probate, and just how long it will take for the process to run its course depends on a number of factors. These would include the probate court caseload at any given time, the complexity of the estate, and whether or not the will is being challenged. This process is going to take a minimum of months, and in some cases it can actually take multiple years for the estate to close. The heirs to the estate do not receive their inheritances while the estate is being probated.

There is a third reason why you may want to consider probate avoidance that is not as commonly talked about, which is the matter of privacy. When your estate is probated it becomes a matter of public record, and many people would prefer that the details of their final affairs remain private and not openly available to the public. In addition, this open forum allows for will challenges. So if you want to make it impossible for anyone to step forward and question your final wishes you can eliminate this possibility by arranging for the transfer of assets to your loved ones outside of the process of probate.

It is said in the field of mathematics that the simplest solution is the most elegant, and this is something that is universally applicable. When it comes to estate planning it is often times difficult to keep things simple because of the intricacies of the tax codes, Medicaid and Medicare rules, the probate process, and the sheer quantity of details that must be addressed when you’re preparing for all the eventualities of aging.

One way to streamline things when you’re planning your estate is to implement strategies that enable probate avoidance. Probate is the legal process that your estate must pass through before your heirs will receive their inheritances. During this interim the probate or surrogate court in the county that is local to you will determine the validity of the will, hear any arguments from people that may want to contest it, and ultimately supervise the administration of the estate by the executor. This process can take quite a bit of time and cost a considerable amount of money, and of course it opens the door for people to challenge your wishes which can draw the matter out for years in some cases.

One very simple and straightforward way that you can transfer assets to your loved ones outside of the probate process is through the creation of pay on death or transfer on death accounts. These can be opened at a bank or financial institution of your choosing where you simply fund the account and name a beneficiary who would assume ownership of the funds upon your death, and this and transfer would take place outside of probate. Some brokerages also offer transfer on death accounts.

In addition to the ease of transfer, pay on death accounts provide versatility because the funds are readily available to you throughout your life and you could change the beneficiaries or even close the account at any time. Estate planning is usually going to require a number of different components, but pay on death accounts can certainly be one useful piece of the puzzle.

If you choose to use a will as your primary instrument of asset transfer after your death your estate has to pass through the process of probate. The laws surrounding probate vary somewhat state to state, and this is why it is important to beware of those one-size-fits-all, do-it-yourself will creation templates that you see offered by the Internet marketers.

These generic fill-in-the-blanks skeletal outlines are not specific to any particular jurisdiction, so if you fill it out you’re basically keeping your fingers crossed and hoping for the best. When it comes to the well-being of your loved ones after you pass away this is probably not good enough.

When your estate goes through probate the validity of the will is determined by the court, so when you are preparing your will it is important to keep this in mind. Throughout your life when you’re in need of a contract that must be legally binding you engage the services of an attorney. Drawing up your will is the same sort of thing. Local Clinton probate attorneys understand Mississippi probate law and they know how the system works. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense to create a will without engaging the expertise of a legal professional.

In fact, if you do arrange for a consultation with an estate planning attorney before attempting to draw up a will on your own you may find that you don’t need a will at all. Probate can be time-consuming, and the costs that arise during the probate process can chip away at the inheritances that you have left to your loved ones.

There are ways to avoid the probate process and transfer assets to your family members in a more direct manner, and many people find this option to be much more appealing. The best way to decide which option is best for you is to get together with an experienced Mississippi probate lawyer and proceed with the benefit of professional advice.

When you are looking into the subject of estate planning on the Internet you’ll hear frequent mention of probate avoidance, and many laypeople are not aware of exactly what probate is let alone why you’d want to avoid it. So to provide a brief explanation probate is the process that your estate must pass through before your heirs can receive their inheritances unless you take legal steps to facilitate the direct transfer outside of probate.

During this process the probate court oversees the administration of the estate by the executor or personal representative, and if anyone wanted to contest the will or if multiple wills were presented arguments would be heard by the probate court.

As you might imagine this can be time consuming, especially if someone is contesting the will and/or the estate is otherwise large and complex, and this is one reason why people sometimes choose to avoid probate. In addition to the time involved probate can be costly because the court itself charges a fee, there are legal fees, the fee to the executor, expenses incurred to properly liquidate the assets, accountant fees, appraisal fees, realtor expenses, etc. Even more frustrating than the expense is often the time involved in administering an estate. The typical small estate takes 6 to 9 months to complete. More complicated estates, such as large estates, estates with minor beneficiaries, or estates containing real property or many creditors, can take several years, and tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, to settle. An additional frustration is the frequent requirement that all matters be approved by a court before acted upon. In fact, many courts now actually freeze all estate assets and will not permit their withdrawal without separate court order for each withdrawal. While this provides safety to the heirs of the estate, it also adds dramatically to the time and expense involved in administering the estate. By placing assets into a trust, the probate process and therefore the probate court, and all of the delays and expenses involved with that court, are avoided.

That is a brief explanation of what probate is and why you might want to avoid it. One of the most common ways of doing so is through the creation of a revocable living trust. With these trusts you name yourself as the beneficiary and the trustee during your lifetime so you retain complete control of the assets while you are alive. You then name a successor trustee and remainder beneficiaries who will assume these roles after you pass away. When you do in fact die, the assets in the trust will be distributed to your heirs, or continue to be held in the trust, in accordance with your wishes as stated in the trust agreement and these transactions take place outside of the probate process