living trust?

[Martha]

IIRC the lawyer "friend" that Mom named to handle her estate through probate charged in the neighborhood of 7% - which I think is the max allowed in VA. Quite a hit for handling a bunch of routine documentation & errands.

We have the living trust for that reason, as well as heading off any potential attacks on the estate by those who might feel entitled to more than they get. Families can get weird.......

Yes, some states allow lawyers to take a percentage for doing a probate. In Minnesota and many other states it is not allowed and considered unprofessional. I am still amazed that there are states and lawyers that think it is fine.

The reason these are complicated questions is the variation among the states so don't make any kind of decision based on what people say here, you really need to talk to a lawyer to decide how to do disability and estate planning.

One thing that some people throw into wills if they have "difficult" heirs is a no-contest clause which provides that if an heir contests the will they will get nothing.

 

[2B]

One thing that some people throw into wills if they have "difficult" heirs is a no-contest clause which provides that if an heir contests the will they will get nothing.

DW's uncle had a substantial estate in the form of a highly successful company. In his will he established a substantial "allowance" for his wife, children and grandchildren. He also stipulated that none of the immediate family could be president of the company. His wife and daughter contested the will despite the "no-contest clause." They claimed that living on the six figure allowance presented an unbearable hardship. After all, there were 5 of them.

My FIL who was no softie in his day and was one of 3 executors. They were all individually sued for everything you could imagine. It looked like an episode of "Dallas" for quite awhile. Eventually, my FIL and the other executors folded and gave in to the blatant extortion.

The daughter took over running the company. It went bankrupt in about 5 years.

The "no-contest clause" isn't all it's cracked up to be.

 

[Martha]

Sometimes it won't matter what you do, if you have litigious relatives and a lot at risk.

 

[Goonie]

Families can get weird.......

In our family we know that there is at least one family member who has been known to be a problem in the past. That is why we are doing the RLT...what gets passed to them gets passed to them....what doesn't get to them, doesn't. I'm successor trustee for her (and she for me) and I will pass on to my siblings everything due them....and even more if they don't p*ss me off! But if the one family member p*sses me off...they'll get ONLY what was left to them!!!

 

[Moemg]

[quote ]
, in some parts of the US lawyers make beaucoup money from probate. For example, I understand that Florida and California have expensive, long and complicated probate procedures and that is why living trusts are favored in those states. However, in states like Minnesota and Wisconsin, probate is not a big deal, a paralegal does most all the work, and it is relatively cheap and fast.


[/quote]

No wonder my late husbands probate took almost four years and cost a bundle ! We were living in Florida !