Congratulations, you have taken the big leap and have purchased a home! Now that you own a home, have you thought about protecting your assets? Is having a WILL good enough?

When one dies with assets to his/her name over $150,000, his/her estate goes through Probate Court – and that happens whether or not he/she left a Will. The only instance when a decedent’s estate (that exceeds the probate threshold of $150,000) stays out of Probate Court is if the assets are titled in a Trust. For purposes of meeting the $150,000 threshold, the probate court looks at GROSS, and not NET value of the Estate.

For that reason, your new home–which you just added to your estate–most definitely pushed your assets above the probate threshold of $150,000. Therefore it would be wise to set up a Trust and transfer your home into Trust to prevent it from undergoing probate.

Even if spouses take title to their home jointly, that only protects the surviving spouse from probate at the first death. At the second death the home (which is now only in the survivor’s name alone) will most likely need to be probated.

Unlike the costs for setting up and administering a Trust, probate costs are much higher. Few people know that the probate fees are set in the Probate Code as a percentage of the gross value of the estate. It costs $46,000 to probate a $1 million dollar estate, $56,000 to probate a $1.5 million dollar estate, $66,000 $2 million dollar estate, and so on. Half of these go to the attorney for the estate, and the other half go to the estate representative. Those should be assets going to your heirs instead.

Protect your assets and your family – save your money for your beneficiaries and consult with an Estate Planner to convey your new home and your other assets in a living Trust.

Disclaimer:  This post is not intended to replace legal advice. It was put together with the assistance and guidance of attorney Maria N. Jonsson. We personally use Maria for our estate planning.

Maria N. Jonsson, Esq. (310) 802-9961, [email protected], www.mariajonssonlaw.com