Probate Round-Up. Small estate on the docket today ($45,000) in Estate of Arthur M. XXXXX. Even small probates yield nice results for the estate attorney (i.e., in this case, $1,800.00 in statutory fees and $600.00 in additional statutory fees for sale of realty). When the heirs desire to sell estate real property (i.e., instead of distributing shares as tenants in common), even if the real property is under the statutory amount of $150,000.00, the only way to accomplish the sale is through a formal probate.
Estate of Celia F. XXXXX. Petitioner Frank XXXX has petitioned for Waiver of Accounting and Petition for Final Distribution Under Will and for Allowance of Statutory Fees and Commissions. Estate is valued at approximately $157,000.00. Attorney is seeking close $6,000.00 in statutory fees, as is the Executor.
Again, two examples of how a trust-based plan could have saved the heirs in the long run. As I've said before, estate planning tends to be put off because of the cost and the difficulty presented by the decisions that have to be made. Not sure if that happened in these cases or not, but indecision is a common problem. I wonder, though, if people are considering the high cost of indecision?