Probate Avoidance Lawyers in Henderson

Effective Legal Guidance to Protect Your Family’s Legacy

Probate is a legal proceeding where a court assesses the total value of an estate and distributes them according to the law. For some, this can be a brief and simple process. For others whose estates are not properly planned and prepared, probate can mean a devastating loss of property and finances. With the right planning and care, you can feel hopeful about a prosperous future for your loved ones. Call the Henderson probate avoidance lawyers at Ford & Friedman for a consultation about how to make the best use of the legal options you have available.

Call (702) 904-9898 now or contact Ford & Friedman online to learn more about how we can help you plan for your family’s future.

Why Does Probate Happen?

When a deceased person leaves behind unclaimed property or unpaid taxes, probate is a way for the government to try and collect whatever they can to cover those costs and close the estate. This makes it important for estate guarantors to either protect their assets or move them into others’ hands so as to reduce their own net worth and minimize tax liability.

Avoiding probate means knowing the laws as they apply to you and using them effectively. Ford & Friedman offers decades of estate planning experience to help you understand the big picture and make the choices that will best serve your family’s long-term interests.

Some effective strategies to avoid probate include:

• Gifting assets to loved ones: Giving gifts to others can effectively reduce your net worth and go a long way toward ensuring the government looks past your estate to cover outstanding taxes. However, you will need to gift money within a certain time frame, since gifting too close to the time of your passing may not always achieve the desired tax liability reduction.
• Putting real estate property in a trust: A trust is a tax vehicle that operates outside of your personal property. By adhering to certain conditions, a real estate trust can protect your property without adding it to your net wealth at the time of your passing.
• Utilizing rights of survivorship: Those who survive you can be named as owners of any outstanding property. This inheritance strategy will ensure that the value of those assets will not be attributed to your estate, but to theirs.
• Payable on Death accounts: Like a trust, a Payable on Death (POD) account can protect your assets from use by anyone other than its named inheritors. Until they claim it, the money will remain property of the bank instead of within the estate.
• Transfer on Death strategies: The best way to avoid probate is to have as few assets to your name as possible when you pass away. Transfer on Death orders allow you to immediately move assets from your estate so that they become the property of someone else.

Schedule a Consultation Today

Your family deserves the best possible future you can provide for them. Ford & Friedman can help you understand your options and protect your wealth from unnecessary taxes and other fees. You can always change an existing plan later, but without one in place, you have no guarantee that your estate will be distributed in accordance with your wishes. Our Henderson probate avoidance lawyers can guide you through this complicated process.

Call (702) 904-9898 now to get started.