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Reasons to Avoid Probate
Probate Is Open To The Public
Both probate documents and proceedings are open to the public. This means that any person or business agent can go to the courthouse and review (and copy) the court probate file and personally attend probate court-hearings. In a probate matter, a deceased person’s estate (money, property and debts) and personal family information is available for the whole world to see. In fact, many appraisal companies review new probate case files looking for new clients. Sadly, the executor or personal representative of the deceased’s estate will receive cold-calls from appraisal companies during these often difficult times. Lastly, potentially embarrassing or sensitive family information could be disseminated to the public.
Probate Can Be Expensive
A probate proceeding can be outright expensive depending on various factors such as the size and complexity of the estate. Moreover, attorneys’ fees, executor fees, probate referee fees, and court filing fees can be expensive and substantially reduce the amount of the deceased’s estate. In other words, the deceased’s ultimate beneficiaries (usually family members) can substantially receive less property (money) because of the expended attorneys’ fees, executor fees, probate referee fees, and filing fees.
Probate Can Take A Long Time.
The legal world is full of probate horror stories of probate cases contentiously lasting several years. In California, an average probate case ranges from 8 to 12 months. Again, this is an average probate case. If the probate case is complex, and throw-in an overcrowded and underfunded probate court, the probate case will usually last longer than a year.
Creditors
A probate matter may cause the deceased’s creditors to come out of the woodwork. A personal representative or executor of the deceased’s estate must give notice to all known creditors of the deceased. Many of these creditors may file a creditor’s claim against the estate causing the estate to be reduced and perhaps causing a contested issue in the probate matter.
