Ask the Expert: Medicaid and Roth IRAs

Is probate in New York really as expensive and time-consuming as advisers who want you to establish an expensive trust would have you believe?

No. In New York, probate typically is quick and inexpensive.

Probate is the procedure in which a court validates your will. It differs from state to state. Marketers of living trusts, which avoid probate, describe it as a horrific process than takes months and costs up to 7 percent of your estate. Humbug!

For most New Yorkers, it takes one to three weeks. "In emergencies, I've seen it take one day," says Stephen J. Silverberg, an East Meadow estate lawyer. New York's probate fees range from $45 on estates worth less than $10,000 to a maximum of $1,250 on all estates worth $500,000 or more. And for probate purposes, your estate's value doesn't include any jointly owned assets or assets with named beneficiaries, like retirement accounts and life insurance. If that's all you own, you've already avoided probate.

As for legal fees, it usually takes four or five hours to prepare and file probate documents. Depending on the firm, and how much work is done by a paralegal rather than an associate or a partner, the cost can range from about $1,000 to $2,500. To be sure, there are additional expenses for property appraisal, estate administration and preparation of tax returns. But you don't avoid those costs by avoiding probate. You incur them with a living trust, too. And you pay about 30 percent more for a living trust than you do for a will.

The bottom line In New York, there's no reason to avoid probate unless you anticipate specific problems, such as a contested will or difficulty locating the people who must be notified before the will is probated.

More information: bit.ly/bvef0O and bit.ly/3fqj16