Probate

Disadvantages of Probate.

• Probate is expensive.
  
  The MINIMUM costs of probate, set by the California Legislature, are determined by the size of your gross estate (mortgages on your property are NOT subtracted) and are as follows:
• Probate is open to the public.
  
  The entire probate process is open to the public so that anyone and everyone is allowed to know every asset you owned on your date of death, every debt you owed and to whom you owed said debt, exactly how you distributed your property between family members and friends, and to comment on whether or not they feel your distribution was "fair" to all concerned.
  
  Furthermore, where a family business is concerned, rival businesses are entitled to know who your company was doing business with, who your creditors were, the asset structure of your company, and to make a judgment as to whether your company is ripe for takeover or increased competition from rival companies.
  

  Gross Estate	Probate Costs
  $100,000	$6,700
  $200,000	$10,300
  $300,000	$14,300
  $750,000	$32,300

  
  

• Probate is a lengthy process and ties up assets
  
  The entire probate process will take anywhere from ten months to two years to probate a small estate of between $100,000 and $200,000. John Wayne’s estate, which was quite large, took six and one-half years to probate in Orange County Superior Court.
  
  During the entire time of probate, either the assest are sold during the probate and the processds are frozen or no one is allowed to sell any of the assets until the probate process is complete.
  
• Wills are easy to contest.
  
  Remember that Wills go to probate. A Will does NOT avoid probate, as many people believe. Wills are easy to contest because anyone is allowed to contest the validity of a Will WITHOUT HIRING AN ATTORNEY. Therefore, it is easy and inexpensive to contest the validity of a Will.
  
• Out-of-state probate.
  
  To the extent that you, as a California resident, own real estate or raw land located outside of the State of California, you will have to go through probate in California as well as in each and every state of the union where you own real property. Of course, you will have to pay the cost of probate in each and every state where you own real property. This is because California Courts only have the power to transfer title to California land. California Courts have no power to transfer title to Arizona land, for example.

Back