PROBATE

Published on: September 15, 2009

Executor Fees – Take them or leave them?

Last month our blog concentrated on Probate in San Diego. If you have been reading our blog, you know that fees for an executor or administrator are statutory in California. The fees are set by the Probate Code and are the fees for both the executor/administrator and the attorney for the estate. On a $500,000 estate, for example, the executor or administrator’s fee would be $13,000 and another $13,000 for the attorney. Therefore on a $500,000 estate, together the fees would be $26,000 plus there will be other costs and fees to probate the estate.

Just because you are entitled to an executor or administrator fee doesn’t mean you have to take your fee. There may be reasons not to accept a fee. As a beneficiary, your inheritance is tax free. Your executor fee is not; it is taxable income. So if you are the sole beneficiary of your parent’s will, it makes no sense to take a fee. Waiving it will increase your tax-free inheritance.

If you are one of many beneficiaries, waiving your fee will cause the other beneficiaries’ shares to be greater which you may want or maybe not. Sometimes in a family situation, executors choose to waive fees just to insure more harmony in the family.

Published on: July 31, 2009

Avoiding Probate

by Scott C. Soady

Aa you have learned from the recent series of blogs on probate, if you can avoid a probate after your death, your heirs will have an easier time settling your estate.

The best way to avoid probate is to have a revocable living trust into which you transfer all of your assets to yourself as the trustee during your lifetime. Upon your death, the successor trustee you have chosen will have immediate authority to administer your trust without a probate. It is critical however that you in fact transfer your assets into your trust by deed, changing title to accounts, etc. Other advantages of a trust are privacy and that if properly drafted, the trust will also have provisions for someone to manage your assets if you become unable to do that for yourself.

Other ways to hold title to avoid probate are:

Published on: July 28, 2009

Probate FAQs

by Scott C. Soady

Frequently Asked Questions about San Diego Probate

1. How long will my probate matter take? As a general rule, most probates in San Diego are finished in a year to 18 months. However there can be many issues that may cause the probate to last longer. Common examples are litigation issues that develop such as an objection to the will, unusual property that has to be appraised or liquidated, difficulty finding heirs or beneficiaries, and larger estates with tax issues.

2. If I am an administrator or an executor, will I have to post a bond? A bond is for the purpose of protecting the decedent’s estate in case the personal representative mismanages the estate. Depending on the size of the estate, bond premiums can be $2000 or more per year.If the will waives bond or you can get all the beneficiaries to waive bond, you probably won’t have to post a bond, however the Court can always order the personal representative to be bonded if the Court believes it is warranted. Bonds are usually required if the administrator or executor live out of state. To obtain a bond, you have to provide information to the bond company about your employment, criminal convictions, bankruptcies, and civil judgments against you. Some people are not bondable if they have issues in these areas.

Published on: July 23, 2009

What is Your San Diego Probate Matter Going to Cost?

by Scott C. Soady

The fees for a probate attorney to handle your probate matter are set forth in the Californa Probate Code. Section 10810 escribes the maximum fees an attorney can charge. These are as follows:

4% of the first $100,000 3% of the next $100,000 2% of the next $800,000 1% of the next $9 million If the estate is worth more than $25 million, the Court will determine the fee.

Who is entitled to these fees? The statute allows compensation for both the attorney handling the probate and the executor or administrator (if you have read the previous blogs, you know the difference). So for example, if the estate is valued at $500,000, the statutory fees would be $13,000 for the attorney and $13,000 for the executor/administrator. With a $1 million estate, the fees would be $23,000 each, or $46,000 total. Fees can also be increased by the court if the probate is complicated by litigation or tax issues.

Published on: July 20, 2009

What if no will can be found? Is probate still necessary?

by Scott C. Soady

If a person dies and they have a will, there will have to be a probate proceeding to transfer the assets. As you know from reading the previous blog, a probate is simply the court supervised proceeding to determine who the heirs or beneficiaries are and transfer the assets to them.

If person dies and leaves no will ( ie. they died intestate), there will still have to be a probate. The Court will distribute your estate to your heirs at law to be distinguished from the situation where a will names the beneficiaries you want to inherit who may or may not be your heirs. As an example, if you want to leave money to a favorite charity, you have to name that charity in a will or a trust. Without either, your estate will be an intestate estate and be distributed to your heirs, not the charity you had in mind.

The distinction between a will and no will is simply that if no will is found, the estate will be distibuted according to the laws of intestate succession. In California with a decedent who is single, the beneficiaries will be the children; if no children, then to parents; if no parents, then to brothers and sisters or their children. If none of those individuals exist, then the estate will go to grandparents, if they are still alive. If none of those relatives exist, then the estate will go to the State of California.

Published on: July 15, 2009

Glossary of Terms for San Diego Probate

by Scott C. Soady

This blog entry is the first in a series of blogs about probate, what is is, who is involved, how long does it take, and what does it cost.

Estate planning lawyers use a lot of terms in probate that most laymen do not know the meaning of unless they have been a participant in the probate process. The following is a short glossary of terms used in probate so that you understand who the players are and what the definitions are of commonly used terms.

Administrator – the individual appointed by the probate court to administer the decedent’s estate when there is no will

Published on: July 2, 2009

Probate in San Diego

by Scott C. Soady

According to a survey by Martindale-Hubbell at lawyers.com, more than half of the people in America do not have a will or a trust. If you do not prepare a will before you die, your estate will have to go through probate. In fact, if you do prepare a will rather than a trust, your estate will have to go through probate.

Probate in San Diego is the legal process of administering a decedent’s estate so that legal title to property can be transferred from the decedent’s estate to his or her beneficiaries. If the decedent has died in San Diego, the estate will be probated in the San Diego courts. In San Diego County, a petition for probate can be filed in the downtown San Diego Probate Court or the North County Probate Court located in Vista.

For most people, becoming an executor of an estate with a will, or becoming an administrator of an estate without a will, is something that requires the assistance of a lawyer. Sometimes people think they can handle a probate without legal counsel, get involved in the process, and then decide that they are in over their head and need legal assistance. Many clients find the process time consuming and confusing. There are many nuances to filing the correct documents with the Probate Court in a timely fashion. If property is owned out of California such as a timeshare, second home, etc., ancillary probate proceedings have to be set up in those states, which complicates the settling of the estate. Sometimes court appearances have to be made which makes some lay people uncomfortable.

Published on: June 19, 2009

Is there a Reading of the Last Will & Testament?

by Scott C. Soady

You have no doubt watched movies or TV shows where everyone gathers in the lawyer’s office, solemn and perhaps anxious about the “reading of the will“. The will is then read aloud by the lawyer to all interested parties. It is unknown where this idea came from but it never happens in real life. There is no legal requirement that a will or a trust be read out loud to family members. As a practical matter, family members usually know where their loved one’s will or trust is located and it may be several weeks until they even consult with a lawyer about what should be done. At that point, the lawyer may even provide copies to the beneficiaries.

With a will, the will is filed with the Probate Court to start the probate process and once that happens, the will is a matter of public record, open to anyone who wants to view it. That is how the public knows so much about celebrities and their wills.

If you have a trust, the trust which becomes irrevocable at your death, your beneficiaries and heirs are entitled to a copy of the trust but your trust does not become public. Privacy is one of the advantages of a trust over a will.

Published on: June 11, 2009

What Assets Do Not Go Through Probate?

by Scott C. Soady

If you have a will and not a trust, when you die your estate will have to go through probate. In general this means that all the property that the deceased owned at the time of death such as real property, personal property, bank accounts, investment accounts, etc. will be part of the probate estate. However there are some exceptions. You may have in your estate some assets that do not go through probate in California. These are some of them:

1. Property held in joint tenancy. An example might be a home you own with your spouse with a “right of survivorship.” Sometimes people own their cars in joint tenancy with other people or a bank account in joint tenancy. When a joint tenant dies, the other joint tenant(s) inherit the property without the probate process. Although assets held in joint tenancy avoid probate, holding title in joint tenancy can cause other problems such as the potential loss of a full step-up in basis which can result in capital gains. Another problem which can result when you own something in joint tenancy is that creditors of the other joint tenant may be able to enforce a judgment against the property.

2. Payable on Death Accounts (or POD accounts). This is a type of account where you choose a beneficiary who will receive the account upon your death. These accounts pass to the beneficiary without probate.

Published on: May 28, 2009

Who Will Be Appointed Executor or Administrator in Probate

by Scott C. Soady

In our last blog, we talked about the timeline for probate in San Diego. Another question we are asked frequently is who is going to be appointed the executor or administrator of the estate? If there is a will created by the decedent, the will usually names the “executor.” If that individual is unable or unwilling to serve and there are no successor executors named in the will, then the court may be asked to appoint an administrator with will annexed also known as an administrator CTA. If a person dies without a will, the person who handles the estate is called the “administrator.” All administrators and executors have the same function which is to oversee the decedent’s estate, including evaluating assets, paying bills, and distributing the estate to the beneficiaries.

Any interested party can petition the court to become the administrator. An interested party could be a family member or even a friend. There is however an order or priority which is set forth in the Probate Code. The following list shows the persons who have priority if they choose to be appointed:

1. Surviving spouse or domestic partner 2. Children 3. Grandchildren 4. Other issue (“Issue” means one’s descendants)