Should you do a trust to avoid probate? If you’re in New Jersey, maybe not. This video explains why.
Sometimes clients ask me if they should do a trust to avoid probate, based on something they read online or heard from a family member or friend. They’ve heard that probate is a difficult and expensive process, and a trust makes everything simpler and cheaper.
However, the truth is that in New Jersey, for most people, probate is simple and inexpensive. “Probate” means the process where, after a person passes away, the person named as executor in the will submits the will to the local government, so the government can accept the will as valid and officially appoint the executor. In New Jersey, as long as you have the original will, most people can probably get this done in less than an hour, for a few hundred dollars at most.
Now, I understand that in many other states, probate is more complicated and difficult, which is probably why the idea of using a trust to avoid probate has spread so much. It’s also worth noting that trusts can be used to accomplish many other worthwhile things, such as special needs trusts. However, doing a trust solely to avoid probate is not something that we find worthwhile for most of our clients in New Jersey, as probate is a relatively easy and cheap process in New Jersey.