What Is Probate Court And Why Do I Want To Avoid It?

​Via an estate plan, you can avoid probate, which will save your loved ones from paying probate fees and potentially years of probate proceedings. 

Probate Court is the court responsible for overseeing the administration of a person’s estate when that person did not have an estate plan.  
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Probate is avoided with an estate plan, and in particular with a trust, because became assets that are transferred to a trust before a person’s death are not part of the person’s probate estate.  Thus, they are not subject to probate proceedings. 

Why does it matter?  The bottom line is that it if properly funded a trust will save your loved ones time and money.

Probate fees in California can be substantial, and include statutory fees as well as extraordinary fees that are commonly granted by the probate court.   Having an estate plan in place will likely save significant administrative costs.  In addition, a typical trust often can be administered in a few months; however, a typical California probate estate lasts a minimum of a year to 18 months.

The statutory probate fees are as follows:

​California Statutory Attorney Fees for Probate
• 4% of the first $100,000 of the gross value of the probate estate.
• 3% of the next $100,000.
• 2% of the next $800,000.
• 1% of the next $9 million.
• .5% of the next $15 million.

In California, if you own a home, worth around $1,000,000, a number that is certainly not unheard of in this state the probate fees to probate just that asset would be as follows:

4% of the first $100,000 $4,000,000
3% of the next $100,000 $3,000.00
2% of the next $800,000 $16,000.00
Total Probate Fees: $23,000.00

These fees do not cover other administrative costs such as other attorney’s fees and executor fees.  Those can be expensive as well.  Thus, it’s easy to see how this can add up extremely quickly.  You can save your loved ones the costs, both time-wise and financially, of probate by avoiding it via creating an estate plan. 

Please contact me for a complimentary consultation to discuss your options with regard to this aspect of estate planning.
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