To transfer property during your lifetime, you simply sign the necessary paperwork to affect the transfer. At your death, assets in your name alone must go through the probate process because the decedent’s signature is needed to transfer assets to beneficiaries. The need for a signature triggers the probate process. Your Last Will and Testament outlines how your assets are to be distributed and designates someone to sign on your behalf and carry out your wishes. That person is known as the Personal Representative or PR in Indiana. In other states they still use the terms Executor or Executrix to designate the person who settles your probate estate.

• Wills may be more easily contested than trusts. Estates can remain open for nine to 24 months.
• Wills can be costly.
• Difficult to disinherit a spouse under a will—a problem in second marriages where you want your money to go to your children.

Most estates under $700,000 in value are cleared in about 12 months. Costs to settle estates have declined over the past 20 years as Probate Court Judges have taken a closer look at the fees charged by attorneys and Personal Representatives. In most cases, the problem with a probate estate settlement is not the probate process; the problem is hidden assets, real estate that is difficult to sell, improperly titled assets, and filing Federal and State Estate and Inheritance tax returns and waiting for tax clearances.

This information is not designed, meant, nor does it constitute the rendering of legal advice. You should consult with an attorney and tax advisors before implementing any strategy discussed here.