You make a serious investment in purchasing property.
You work through the title process, escrow, getting insurance, and securing a mortgage.
Have you thought about how to protect this new property and your other assets for your heirs if something should happen to you?
If someone dies without a will and trust, their property is settled through the court process of probate.
Probate fees are determined by the gross value of the property. For the purpose of calculating fees, the court does not care if you have a mortgage. As far as the court is concerned a $1 million property with a $900,000 mortgage is worth $1 million dollars for calculating fees.
There are two fees that are set by the court in California, the probate fees plus the administrator fees. As an example, on a $1 million property the California courts have set a fee that would be $23,000 for the probate fees plus $23,000 for the administrator fees.
How can you avoid something like this $46,000 in California court assigned fees?
Establish a trust. It can not only help to avoid probate fees, it will also make your wishes clearer to your beneficiaries and speed the process of getting your property to them.
We can develop this together. Give me a call.
858-225-1239