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Sometimes, even when a person has drawn up a Will, probate of the Will may not be necessary. Advance planning with probate-alternative documents can avoid the need for probate in many cases.

Some Pre-Death Planning Examples Are:

1. A Transfer on Death Deed or “Lady Bird Deed"
2. Beneficiary Designations on Retirement Accounts, Life Insurance, Brokerage Accounts and The Like
3. A Trust Arrangement

Guardianships are a complicated legal proceeding. Most people have no clue exactly how complicated and expensive they are. In some situations, however, a guardianship is required to manage the affairs of a loved one.

I have addressed in another blog several steps that can be taken as part of the estate planning process that help avoid the need for probate. If those steps were not taken, a full probate still may not be needed.

I am frequently contacted after the passing of a loved one about whether a probate of the loved one's Will is necessary or not. The answer is the standard attorney's reply, "It depends." Sometimes, if your loved one has no assets that are not already disposed of by beneficiary designation or payable on death provisions, there is no need to probate a Will.

This frequently happens if the loved one had already sold the home and was residing in a nursing home, and the only assets he or she still owned were liquid assets. However, if there is real estate still owned by the deceased or oil and gas interests that are not in a trust, some form of probate may be required to transfer the assets. 

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.

One of my biggest pet peeves over the years has been the over-selling of living trust packages to folks doing their estate planning. There are definitely times when a living trust is a good estate planning tool. However, for many individuals a living trust is an unnecessary expense.    

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. This type of probate is the least expensive formal, court-administered proceeding. 

Frequently, people whose loved one dies without a Will fail to take any action to transfer property because they don’t think the estate is large enough to mess with. This leaves loose ends that must be dealt with years later, when finding the people necessary to legally make the transfer is much harder. To avoid this result, the State of Texas allows the heirs to legally transfer assets at very little expense through a procedure called a Small Estate Affidavit.