Avoid The Cost And Expenses Of Probate Court-It’s Not Cheap

You probably have read both our blog and others advising about the benefits of avoiding probate—in fact, that’s one main reason to have an estate plan in the first place. But one main reason to avoid probate is money—probate isn’t cheap, and avoiding it can save money in your estate, and thus ensure that your beneficiaries get what you intended them to get.

Statutory Fees and Percentages

There are statutory attorney fees, and executor fees, that an estate must pay when the estate is probated.

The amount of the fee is staggered and ranges from an initial fee of 4% for the initial $100,000 value of the probate estate, 3% on the next $100,000, 2% on the next $800,000, then 1% of all amounts between $800,000 and $9 million, and continues from there, to maximum of %.05 on amounts that are between $9 million and $15 million. Above $15 million, and the court will determine what a reasonable amount is.

If you have an attorney as well as an executor (also called a personal representative), as most estates in probate do, you will pay double those amounts—those percentages are for each of the attorney and the executor. However, the executor can opt to waive his or her fees, which is sometimes done if the executor is also a beneficiary of the estate.

Bear in mind this is for a “straight” no-contest probate case. It does not take into account attorneys fees for contested litigation or to challenge a creditor’s claim on the estate, or other contested matters that may arise in probate court.

Extra fees may be awarded for the court, if there are extra services required to administer the estate. So, for example, the executor or the attorney may have to deal with running your business while it goes through probate, or challenging liens or taxes or legal issues related to real property in your estate, so that it can pass free and clear to your beneficiaries.

Appraisers and Other Professionals

This all entails another expense. To see what your attorney or executor in probate gets, you need to know the total value of your estate. That means that for any assets that don’t have a set value, like property or businesses, the property will need to be appraised, leading to their fees and costs.

There may be professionals that may need to be hired to run your business or manage its affairs until it can be passed on, or people who need to be hired to take care of your animals, or professionals that need to do clean up and maintenance of real property while the property is under control of the probate court.

There are other fees that are assessed by the court, such as a fee just to open the probate case, and then a fee that has to be paid when the estate is finally distributed.

There are ways to avoid all these fees–and probate court. Let us show you how. Call the Torrance probate will and estate attorneys at Samuel Ford Law today.

Sources:

clearestate.com/en-us/blog/california-probate-fees

smartasset.com/estate-planning/probate-costs-in-california