So the question here is, which do you think is better for property, a will or a trust? So I’m gonna start this question off with a couple of questions just because a state planning or law in general is very nuanced. A state planning particularly is not cookie cutter. And every case, every situation, every family makeup is unique to that particular situation or dynamic.
So I don’t have a straight answer for this question just because if you come into my office and you ask me something like this, I’m gonna ask you a couple of questions.
Things like, do you own multiple properties? Is your home your largest app asset? Do you have any children? Do you have any minor children? What are your goals with your home? What would you like to do with your home? What would you like to see happen with your home? Do you have any people in mind that you want the house to go to? Do you currently have a mortgage on the home? Who is expected to take the home in the event that you become incapacitated? Or would you like to sell the home? So these are all questions that some people don’t even think about, but it’s my job as an expert, as a professional, as your attorney, to ask you these types of questions, because the answers to these questions are gonna help me be able to make a decision and or with you cultivate some sort of plan.
So there are a couple of things when I think about a person who wants to build an estate plan based off of a will or build an estate plan based off of a trust. If you have multiple properties, say for example, you’re based in DC but you also have vacation property in Florida. I would always recommend people with multiple properties in multiple states. I would always recommend a trust just because the probate process is already long and slow. I actually talk in a video about the probate process, the fees, the costs, everything associated with it. And just for a person who owns their home in one state and possibly has a simple estate, this can turn into a long drawn out process.
So for that reason, if you’re, I’m already working with a client that has a home in DC, has a home in Delaware, a vacation home in Florida. I’m going to recommend and talk to them about their options of setting up or drafting a trust just because of the multiple probate issues and if they want to keep those properties in their home, where they wanna pass them down, they, it’s very important for them to keep it in the family. It would be my best recommendation to set up a trust because all of those properties will have to go through their own probate, and then you will have to seek your own local council in those states.
Now, for someone who doesn’t have minor children or they have adult children that may not want the home or may want to sell the home, etc. It can be something possibly as simple as a will or are you married? If you’re married, did you purchase the house together when you were married? Here in the state of Maryland, there’s something called tenancy by the entirety, and it is essentially a way that two people will own their home or how the deed is conveyed to them. And so by tendency, by the entirety, that essentially means that upon the death of the first spouse, the surviving spouse automatically takes.
So this is something also to think about how the house is held, what are your goals with the home? So I can’t just answer the question just outright, just because when you come into my office, there are many nuanced questions that I’m going to ask. And getting those answers to those questions will allow me to better curate a plan for you. So in the event that, you know, you would like to talk further or you have any more questions about what you would do in certain scenarios? Like I said, if there is a tendency by the entirety process that family or that family in that estate plan, they’re not going to necessarily have to go through the probate process in regards to that piece of property just because that passes by the rules of tendency by the entirety, kind of like contract law, that surviving spouse is going to take without having to go through the probate process.
And then another thing, goals. What is your goal? If you don’t care about the probate process 100%, you can pass your home. By a way. If you do care about the probate process or your children are minors, etc, you may want to start having a conversation about setting up an estate plan with a trust instead of passing it by will. So there’s many different questions, there are many different answers, and each answer to all of those questions better helps me as an estate planning attorney decide what is the best plan moving forward. I hope this helps. And if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact my office, WWW dot Leah Boston law.com, or leave a comment, and I’m happy to answer it there. Once again, thank you so much. And I love these questions. Keep them coming.