Pretty much everyone wants to pass down a little something to their loved ones when they die. You work hard to make wealth so you can provide for the people you care about. And the last thing you want is to see a huge chunk of your hard-earned wealth go to the government by way of probate fees.
As you probably know, probate can be a long and cost-intensive process. And the longer this process takes, the more likely it will cost more. Fortunately, avoiding the costs associated with probate is much easier than you think.
Why should you try as much as you can to avoid probate?
There are a variety of reasons why you should avoid having your estate go through probate. Here are some of them:
- When you do not want your loved ones to resolve their affairs in court while they are grieving
- When you want to safeguard your loved ones’ privacy
- When you do not want the probate court to eat into your loved ones’ inheritance
What are some ways to avoid putting an estate through probate?
Here are simple ways you can reduce the cost of probate in New York, or even avoid probate altogether:
- Set up a living trust: Just like a will, a trust is an estate planning tool that allows you to pass on your assets to your loved ones. However, unlike the will, assets that are governed by the trust do not go through probate. Rather, they automatically pass on to the designated beneficiaries as provided by the trust instrument.
- Set up in joint ownership: Any assets that you jointly owned with another person automatically pass down to the surviving co-owner upon one party’s demise. This is known as joint ownership with the right of survivorship.
Estate planning is one of the most important legal decisions you can ever make. Find out how you can minimize or avoid probate altogether during the estate planning process.