Probate Update

In my last post, I talked about how going through probate is not necessarily the end of the world, and so should not be avoided at all costs. One of the things I downplayed was the public nature of probate. Probate is a public court proceeding. All the filings are public record and can be accessed by anyone. While most people don't have the time or inclination to want to dig through court files of people they don't know, there are those who do just that for a living. They then turn the information over to others who contact the heirs to try to sell them financial services based on their impending inheritance.

I didn't mention this as a potential downside of probate, but it is real. There are, of course, many other factors to consider when you are planning your estate. Keeping your estate private is only one possible reason to avoid probate. You should, of course, speak with a qualified estate planning attorney to discuss all the aspects of your plan.