California Probate Calculator
Calculate the cost of probate in one click
12 followers
Calculate the cost of probate in one click
12 followers
Given Probate can be very costly, time-intensive, and litigious, it is critically important to create a trust. This probate calculator calculates the higher costs your family may bear if you do not have an estate plan. The probate cost compares to the cost of creating a trust in California and highlights why it's important to create a trust. Please check out the Loom video to see the tool in action and learn more.
Hi all!
I am the creator of Wealth Law, P.C. and a California estate planning attorney. Here is a high-level overview of this product:
What is it?
The probate calculator helps you simply calculate the cost of probate in California.
Why is it important?
This calculation is important because people should know how much probate could cost their family in California if they don't have an estate plan or if their plan goes wrong. This calculator compares the cost of probate to the cost of creating a trust-based estate plan with an attorney. The higher cost of probate is one of the reasons why families in California create trusts in order to avoid probate.
How can I learn more?
Please check out our FAQ to learn more about what is probate, ways to avoid probate, and how this calculation is actually done by size of the estate.
Request for feedback
Let me know if you have any questions and please share any feedback. Thank you!
Shant
Great, visual way of illustrating the benefit of trusts vs. wills or no estate plan! Can be hard to drive this point home and this is an easy-to-digest way of seeing it.
Are the fees for having an attorney administer the trust after death included in the $5K? Might be worth adding for a more robust picture. Could also be good to mention or link to any pro bono estate planning services in CA since even though it makes long term financial sense, having $5K lying around is still a big hurdle for many to go through with creating a trust (though I recognize this might be a little counter to your business interests on your firm website).
@sam_vc Hi Sam, I'm back!
Here is my post on a list of free and low cost estate planning services across California. I am planning to create a separate list for estate planning tech.
I also updated the FAQ to include the issue regarding costs of trust administration. The trust administration should not cost as much as probate because the court is not involved and the cost is not a set percentage of the estate's value like in probate. For simple estates, an attorney can be used more as a guide and charge hourly, but the final cost depends on how much work there is for the estate.
Thank you for sharing your feedback! This gave me the desire to create it. Let me know if you have any more ideas or questions.
@shantohagopian Looks great, I bet this will be a helpful resource for many!
This is an excellent tool with a clear explanation. It can serve as a much needed wake-up call for families who might otherwise be caught off guard during an already difficult time of loss.
@sam_77 thank you Sam!