My wife has been haggling me about this for a while.

Looking for pros and cons of a revocable living trust.

Individual or shared trust.

https://smartasset.com/estate-planning/pros-and-cons-of-revocable-living-trust#:~:text=Revocable%20living%20trusts%20have%20a,don%27t%20protect%20against%20creditors.

We are just started setting up revocable trust. About $3500 including POAs, Med directives, house TODs.

Will avoid probate in 2 states where I'm invested. A majority of assets will transfer TOD and will be outside the trust.

You can apparently buy unlimited government bonds with a series of RLTs.

P.H. Dexippus said:

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You can apparently buy unlimited government bonds with a series of RLTs.

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You can buy unlimited government bonds with a brokerage account. But why would you?

Avoiding an ancillary probate (or multiple in your case) is a fantastic use/purpose.

OldArmyCT said:

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P.H. Dexippus said:

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You can apparently buy unlimited government bonds with a series of RLTs.

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You can buy unlimited government bonds with a brokerage account. But why would you?

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Why? For 9% interest. Not that demand is there now, but during the height of the ibond frenzy, it was the unlimited way around the $10k individual limit.

Dealing with this now as Trustee unless you have all your assets in the trust you ain't avoiding NOTHING.

NIGHTMARE

What's best way to avoid probate for and distribute all of following to surviving spouse:

Tens of single family rental homes - separate property
Apartment complex - community
Farm - community

Curious what is making the process a nightmare. I am also thinking about setting up a trust and would like to avoid the pitfalls.

Don't die with meaningful assets outside the trust with no named beneficiaries, which means probate time.

The key is keep everything in the trust, every time you buy something or invest.

Casey TableTennis said:

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Avoiding an ancillary probate (or multiple in your case) is a fantastic use/purpose.

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Thank you. My lawyer suggested that in addition to Texas probate costs for each spouse, the other state's probate would be about $9,000 and consume 9 months or more. It seems that by the time both spouses pass, it is a total of 4 times in probate, 2 in each state for each spouse.

From online research:

"There are a variety of fees that arise during the probate process including executor's fees or commission, attorney and legal fees, appraisal fees, cost costs, accounting fees, and bond fees. When added up, these fees frequently wind up costing between 2% to 7% or more of the total value of the estate, and the entire probate process generally takes between 9 and 18 months in North Carolina (assuming that there is not any litigation involved).

It's also important to understand that if there is out-of-state real estate, that real estate must be probated in the state within which it is locatedthis is referred to as an ancillary administration. This can significantly increase the work and cost involved during the probate process."