Probate - What you don't know can hurt you!

Article submitted by David Burford, a probate lawyer in Colorado Springs. He can be reached at 719-260-9898.

When you die or become unable to manage your own affairs, the stuff you leave is called your estate. To direct what will happen to your estate, you need to provide some instructions, which is your estate plan. Contrary to what most people think, you cannot simply rely on someone you trust to do what you would want, because legal ownership needs to be transferred officially to the new owners/ heirs. The legal transfer process is called Probate, and it can be done either informally, with the minimal supervision by the court, or formally, with more court supervision over the person doing the transferring.

Probate can be avoided by transferring your assets to a trust you have created before you die. A trust is much like a company with a manager (or Trustee), a founder, (you, the Grantor) and stockholders (Beneficiaries, who will get the property in the trust when you pass away.). By establishing this trust, you have transferred legal ownership away from your natural body to an unnatural, immortal entity, so that when you die, it carries on and does exactly whatever you told it to beforehand. If the trust sounds complicated, that's because it is. In states where probate is very time consuming and costly, however, or if your estate might be taxable, it can be worth the extra responsibility.

Most Colorado residents would benefit from informal probate of their estates without going to the expense and complication of a trust. Even if using a trust makes sense in your circumstances, a will, medical and general power of attorney must be put in place anyway to protect and transfer assets which may not have been put in the trust and to manage your estate and medical care if you can't. With a basic plan in place, you can sail through or avoid the probate system rather than getting bogged down in it for years. For just a few hundred dollars, your loved ones will thank you for getting your affairs in order.

The above remarks are not intended as legal advice, and are general in nature and may or may not apply to your estate. Consult a lawyer to properly determine the best estate plan for your situation.