Today I met with a couple from Destrehan whose biggest estate planning concern is to make everything as simple as possible for their family when each spouse passes away. Their primary assets are their home, a modest investment account worth about $150,000, and an partial interest in some rental properties in Jefferson Parish. In our discussion, we talked about the court supervised probate process that is required for all Louisiana residents that die with real estate and investments titled in their names, regardless of whether they have a Louisiana Will in place or not.
As we discussed, two probates would be required, one after each spouse dies before any property in the estate could be transacted and distributed to the proper heirs. Until that time, the family’s assets would be essentially stuck in limbo. The cost per probate for this family could easily reach $5,000 per spouse because of all the court filings, attorney’s fees and appraisal costs the family would face; and the court process typically takes about 6 months before title to all estate property is cleared into the names of the heirs. In addition, all the sensitive financial information that must be revealed to the court in the probate legal pleadings would become part of the public record, and visible to anyone.
The couple did not want all this extra work, cost and delay for the surviving spouse and children after each spouse dies–so we set up a Revocable Living Trust. This trust will allow the couple to retain full control over their assets for the rest of their lives while avoiding two probate court proceedings, making the whole estate settlement so much simpler for the family. The family will have instant access to all trust assets without any need for court permission or supervision. It didn’t matter that we weren’t dealing with a massive estate, the family will still save thousands of dollars by keeping it out of court, and will save months of delay and headaches by avoiding two probates.
To discover how easy it is to avoid Louisiana Probate for your loved ones and keep the court’s hands off of your estate, regardless of value, call (504) 274-1980 in the Metairie and New Orleans Area or call (985) 246-3020 in Mandeville, Covington, Slidell, Houma, Thibodaux, and surrounding areas.