For example, Bob is a resident of Torrance, California. He is a widower and has two children (Mike and Stacy). Bob worked for 40 years and is now retired. He owns a home which Mike and Stacy grew up in and the home is now worth $600,000 with no debt. Bob retired after working 40 years from Northrop Grumman (previously he worked at Hughes Aircraft) and he was able to amass $450,000 in 401k. He also has $100,000 in cash and mutual funds, as well as a $50,000 life insurance policy from the VA (Bob was in the military). His total estate is worth $1,200,000.
Bob passed away. Bob did prepare his last will and testament that said his assets go to Mike and Stacy, his children equally. Unfortunately, for Mike and Stacy, they now have to go through the legal process of opening a Probate case for Bob to administer Bob's last will and testament. The probate case from beginning to end was one year and two months (or 14 months).
Time:
Took 14 months for Mike and Stacy to receive their inheritance from Bob.
Cost:
Attorney fees $25,000, Executor fees $25,000, Filing fees $930, Bond $2,000, Newspaper publication fee $500, Probate appraiser fee $1,200, other court miscellaneous fees $200. So the total after Bob's estate goes through the probate process was a whopping $54,830!!!
If you don't want your loved ones to go through what Mike and Stacy had to go through, you can easily avoid this by having a proper Living Trust/Estate plan.
Find out more by calling your estate planning attorney and begin the discussion. Don't be Bob!!
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