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Setting up a living trust is the best way to ensure your assets are passed onto the right people if you pass away. So how do you start the process?          

The first advice I would give you is to consult an estate planning attorney. This is in the area where self-help and online resources like LegalZoom can get you into trouble. If the trust and follow-up steps are not done correctly, you can have totally wasted the time and money you may have invested in the program. 

After you have found a qualified attorney, follow these steps...

In this series of blogs, I am outlining various types of probates or probate alternatives to settle an estate and their likely costs. As I mentioned in the introduction to this series, the cost is predominantly determined by the type of procedure followed. 

In this series of blogs, I have outlined various different types of probates and probate alternatives to help you settle an estate and understand the potential costs. As I mentioned in the introduction to this series, the cost is predominantly determined by the type of procedure followed. 

• In Part One, I discussed probate as a muniment of title, which is usually one of the least expensive procedures. 
• In Part Two, I discussed the cost of an independent administration of the estate. Both of those procedures require the decedent to have had a will. 
• In Part Three, I discussed how if there is no will, the least expensive way to settle the estate through a court proceeding is a small estate affidavit. 
• In Part Four, I discussed the high cost of a proceeding to determine heirship and for administration of the estate.

Today, I’ll walk you through dependent administration, a type of proceeding that can potentially be more expensive.

Your wedding day has come and gone, and you never got around to drawing up that prenup agreement. 

There is good news. If you and your spouse can agree on the parameters, it’s not too late to outline how your property will be classified, as community or separate, how your joint finances will be handled, and support for children from prior marriages —even if you’re already married. You can still accomplish this through a postnup agreement. 

The sooner you create a postnup after the marriage, the easier it is. However, a postnup agreement can be done at any time, regardless of how long you have been married. 

A postnup agreement even can be a tool in an estate plan to clearly delineate each spouse’s separate property if the plan for distribution of that separate property is different from the rest of the estate plan. 

In this series of blogs, I am outlining various different types of probates or probate alternatives to settle an estate and their likely costs. As I mentioned in the introduction to this series, the cost is predominantly determined by the type of procedure followed. 

In Part One, I discussed probate as a muniment of title, which is usually one of the least expensive procedures. In Part Two, I discussed the cost of an independent administration of the estate. Both of those procedures require the decedent to have had a will. In Part Three I discussed how if there is no will, the least expensive way to settle the estate through a court proceeding is a small estate affidavit.

In this series of blogs, I am outlining various different types of probates or probate alternatives to settle an estate and their likely costs. As I mentioned in the introduction to this series, the cost is predominantly determined by the type of procedure followed. 

In Part One, I discussed probate as a muniment of title, which usually is one of the least expensive procedures. In Part Two, I discussed the cost of an independent administration of the estate. Both of those procedures require the decedent to have had a will. If there is no will, the least expensive way to settle the estate through a court proceeding is a small estate affidavit.  

In this series of blogs, I am outlining various different types of probates or probate alternatives to settle an estate and their likely costs. As I mentioned in the introduction to this series, the cost is predominantly determined by the type of procedure followed. In Part One, I discussed probate as a muniment of title, which usually is the least expensive procedure. Many times that type of probate is not appropriate, though, and an independent administration is required.

In this series of blogs, I am outlining various different types of probates or probate alternatives to settle an estate and their likely costs. As I mentioned in the introduction to this series, the cost is predominantly determined by the type of procedure followed. This type of probate is the least expensive formal, court-administered proceeding. 

One of the first questions the family of a loved one that has passed will ask is, “What will it cost to settle the estate?”