Thursday, August 20, 2009

Estate Planning? Forget About It

Got less than $3.5 million? Forget about a lawyer-drawn will.

Got $10 million? Not to worry. Most likely your executor can probate your estate in a matter of minutes.

For these and other stimulating insights, see Smart Money's 10 Things Estate Planners Won't Tell You.

1 comment:

Chad Baker, Esq. said...

Although there are many to pick from, my favorite quote in this article is actually attributed to a probate lawyer: “If the executor is organized, it’s possible to do a $10 million estate in minutes.” Is he serious? First, if it's a $10M estate, someone should have done some serious estate planning to begin with unless their favorite relative was their "Uncle" (Sam, that is) because this estate would pay about $2.9M in estate tax. I can't even write out a check for that much in "minutes!"

This article is ridiculous - yes, there are overreaching "professionals" that charge excessive fees and don't do what's best for clients, however, I truly find that that is the exception rather than the rule...