What are the advantages of probate?
Not only can probate be fairly straightforward, but it actually comes with certain benefits that you will miss if you avoid it entirely. The most important of those might be that going through probate can dramatically shorten the amount of time that creditors with unfiled claims against you can collect from your estate, from a year all the way down to as few four months. Also, it is better to trust these documents to professionals. It is better that everything is arranged correctly, so that your will is executed. I hired a good probate attorney one to solve such issues
Also, if you plan on putting real property into your trust, such as land or your house, you might need to take certain steps in order to ensure that you retain marketable title to that property. Your mortgage lender and your insurer might require certain paperwork or additional steps be taken before conducting business with you that they wouldn’t have required if you held the property in your own name.
One advantage of probate is that when a notice to creditors is published, all debts and liabilities of the decedent are terminated with respect to creditors who fail to file a claim against the estate within the four month period. Another advantage of probate is that the probate court can resolve any disputes involving the decedent’s estate and disposition of its assets.
There are five commonly stated advantages to probate. 1. Probate helps you obtain clear title to assets. This is true, but there are many ways to pass clear title if you have clear title to the asset originally. Probate itself has nothing to do with clear title and you don’t need probate to obtain clear title. It is just one way to get clear title to assets. 2. Probate helps you get a stepped-up tax basis on assets. It’s true that probate assets do generally qualify for the stepped up tax basis. However, you only get a stepped-up basis if the IRS accepts the asset valuation. The IRS is not obligated to use probate court’s valuation! If they IRS does accept the probate court’s valuation, that’s great. But you do not need probate to get the stepped-up tax basis. There are several ways to get it. 3. Probate carries out the decedent’s wishes. This is a misleading claim at best. First, intestacy (dying without a will), will challenges, and property beyond court’s control can all prevent the
