Wealth Planning Blog

Whether you are an expert in probate and have dealt with it on multiple occasions or a rookie, we can all agree on one thing: probate kind of sucks and should be and can be avoided. Let’s start with the basics: What is probate? Probate is a Court-guided process whereby a deceased individual’s financial affairs are wrapped up and the Court determines who the proper beneficiaries are of the deceased individual’s estate. The words “court-guided process” should automatically lead you to the accurate assumption that probate can be expensive both in time and money.

So I’m an estate planner …well … what’s that mean? That’s a question I get all the time, whether by a prospective client or a neighbor or somebody sitting next to me at the bar. My answer: I make things easier for families during the worst possible situations. Whether that is a result of a loved one dying, becoming incapacitated, getting divorced… But let’s be honest, isn’t estate planning the easiest thing to put off and not talk about? I mean it’s morbid… sad to think about. 

“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that is troublesome” – Isaac Asimov, American science fiction novelist and scholar. Though it may not be exactly what Isaac Asimov meant, I couldn’t help but think about his quote this past week as my family faced the unexpected and WAY too soon passing of one of our own. Transition is hard ... I mean really hard! Grieving may be exhausting … both physically and mentally but it is an essential and extremely important process for any family in this situation to go through.

Hello, and welcome back to Part 2 of our “keeping real estate out of probate” series. Did everyone have a nice Valentine’s Day? We actually celebrated this Valentine’s Day as a big group with family, and I was utterly amazed at how excited the kids were about Valentine’s Day. I swear my niece and nephew were more excited about their candy and stuffed animals than they were about all the toys on Christmas. 

“There is only one god and his name is Death. And there is only one thing we say to Death: “Not today.” - George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones. Wouldn’t it be nice if we got the chance to actually say “not today” so we could spend that day getting all of our ducks in a row that we should have lined up yesterday? Or, maybe you’re someone like me that would then just spend that day doing every possible thing you could on your bucket list and hope your kids don’t get too mad at you for leaving their inheritance in an administrative mess!