If you haven’t read our blog before you might not know: One of the most important things about a living trust is that if you set it up and fund it correctly, then the people that you leave behind when you pass away will not have to go to probate court in order to get your property.
Today I wanted to tell a story that happened to me recently that is a perfect illustration of why there’s never been a better time to do your estate plan than NOW. It’s a very unfortunate story that happened recently, and it is one that I knew was going to happen someday:
I had a client who had called me a few weeks ago and said that he wanted a living trust. We drafted the trust and were ready for him to come in to sign the paperwork, but could no longer get a hold of him. We had been calling him and asking him when he wanted to come in to review and sign, but he hadn’t called us back. Then we got a phone call from his best friend who is also our client. He had gone to his house because they also hadn’t heard from him, and unfortunately they found him passed away.
This is a very unfortunate story because now we are going to have to go through probate court in order for the family to get his property. This could have been avoided if he had been able to complete the trust process, but he hadn’t signed because unfortunately he passed.
The point of this story is to illustrate that putting off estate planning and thinking “Oh, nothing’s going to happen to me,” or “I’ll do it later,” or “I don’t want to spend the money,” is that you just don’t know what is going to happen day by day. If you want to protect your family and have the peace of mind and control of your property, then I highly suggest that you think about getting your estate plan in order.
It costs a lot more money to go to probate court than it does to set up a trust.
If you are interested in setting up an estate plan or would like to talk more about this topic, give us a call at (702) 850-7798, or click here to schedule a complimentary, 15-minute phone consultation with our attorneys.