Advice from Our San Diego Probate Lawyer:
Our San Diego probate – estate planning lawyer helps people just like you protect their assets through the process of probate. Probate begins the running of the statute of limitations for creditor claims and requires the executor to put up a bond and be supervised by the court.
Janie had only a very small family. She loved her niece, Eva, very much; but, Eva had had grave financial problems and often made poor decisions. Janie didn’t want to hire either a professional trust company or bank to serve as executor of her estate. She wanted to appoint Eva as her executor.
When Janie consulted with our San Diego estate planning – probate attorney, he explained that she could name Eva as executor of her will (and NOT trustee of a revocable living trust) because probate would require Eva to file a bond with the court before she could act and publish notice to creditors to start the statute of limitations tolling for creditor claims against the estate.
Probate would also require Eva to file an inventory with the court and submit receipts for all distributions before the bond would be exonerated.
In other words probate would provide the structure Eva needed to make good decisions and carry out Janie’s wishes.
Trusts typically don’t require bonds and they definitely don’t require court supervision. Probate is required to gain these benefits. If you have asset protections concerns because of potential creditors or an executor who may make poor decisions, consult with our San Diego estate planning – probate attorney.