Probate is a dirty word to most people. It's time-consuming, expensive, public, and brings with it the possibility of infighting and costly litigation. So how can you avoid it? The short answer: estate planning. But as we have written before, estate planning is a very broad topic. So here are five ways you can use estate planning to avoid probate:
1. Give away your entire estate.
This might seem like the most logical solution and, sadly, many people do it without thinking of the consequences. If you give away your assets, you also give away control over them. If, for example, you give your home to your child, you cannot control who lives there or if it is sold or mortgaged or seized by your child's creditors — even if you're living there. Giving away your estate may also trigger a federal gift tax. What's more, if you give your child your home as a gift during your lifetime, they cannot take advantage of a concept known as stepped-up basis and could instead be forced to pay large capital gains taxes in the future.