What happens to my assets when I die?
There are a lot of different things that can happen with your property, but basically if you have an asset, any piece of property that is in your name, that you own, and you are the only owner, and there is not any way for that asset to transfer automatically, then that is what is called a probatable asset.

Probate is the court that is involved with transferring assets after somebody passes away. The general legal basis behind that is that during your lifetime, you are the only person who has ownership of your own assets. No one else can come in and take your things from you because they are yours.
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​The same principle applies after you are gone. Now you have this asset that is stuck, it is in your name, but if you are no longer around to be able to transfer it, the court has to step in and use the court authority to grant somebody else the ability to transfer those assets in your name, and that is the process of probate. There are certain laws that govern what happens with where everything goes and what court process is needed. That is the general probate process.

This video is for informative purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. Small details can have big consequences. Want to know more about Estate Planning, schedule a free consultation with us.

How long does it take to do an estate plan?

The first meeting is usually about an hour, hour and a half, depending on how many questions there are.
After that first meeting, usually, we've developed a strategy that we want to implement and we figured out what documents we are going to help draft. Typically, those documents take a few weeks to put together and get out to you. It may take a little less, it may take a little bit more.

Once we send the documents out, as far as our firm is concerned, we're ready to sign. And it really just depends on our clients' comfort level with the documents and their availability.
Most of the duration between when we first meet with someone, and when we have them come back in for signing, is just a question of schedules.

This article is for informative purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. Small details can have big consequences. Want to know more about Estate Planning, schedule a free consultation with us.

Does a will keep my beneficiaries out of probate?
Watch our video and get your question answered in less than a minute!

A will does not keep beneficiaries out of court. ​Actually, the way that the document is designed is the opposite of that. A will only deals with core assets. It functionally serves as a set of instructions to the probate courts about what should happen to assets that are already going through there. It does not deal with anything outside of the court process. 

​If you have an account that has a beneficiary designation that says it goes to one place and a will that says goes somewhere else, the beneficiary designation wins and it's going to go where that says. It doesn't matter what the will says if it doesn't go through the probate courts. ​So no, will absolutely does not keep you out of court.

If you would like to know more about the topic, just reach out for a Free Consultation. We can help.
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This video is for informative purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. Small details can have big consequences. Want to know more about Estate Planning, schedule a free consultation with us.

What is a trust?
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What is a Trust? The most basic way of explaining what a trust is, is when one person gives property to a second person, not for the second person to own, but for them to use on behalf of a third person. So if you say, when I die, I want my sister to be in charge of all of my money for my kids, that concept is what a trust is.
There's a lot more complexity that we can put into it. We have got a lot of flexibility and tools that we can use along with that, but that is the basic idea - is simply that that one person is holding assets for the benefit of someone else.

Learn more about Trusts here, or book a Free Consultation today.

This video is for informative purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice. Small details can have big consequences. Want to know more about Estate Planning, schedule a free consultation with us.