When Robert Sterling Clark died in New York, the cost of administering his estate was $856.747, the executor was paid $2,965,683, and the attorney charged $1,065,530. It cost $4,822.430 to "protect" Clark's heirs.
Hyde Stewart, an Ohio postman, died leaving $22,864 and no Will. When the estate was settled after twenty-five months, it had paid out $2,077 in administrator's fees and $3,500 in attorney fees.
"Probate Eats Up Nearly Half of an Estate of $19,425" - a front page headline in a Missouri newspaper.
CAN THIS HAPPEN TO YOUR ESTATE?
HOW CAN YOU AVOID FALLING INTO THE "PROBATE TRAP"?
THERE IS A SOLUTION...READ ON..
Dear Friend:
Probate has a bad name.
Generations ago, the probate system was conceived as one orderly way of transferring the property of a deceased person to his or her heirs. It was designed to protect the heirs.
Today it has become an ugly, legal nightmare where lawyers, clerks, guardians, administrators, estate appraisers and bonding companies bilk widows and orphans out of their inheritance.
All across the nation, greedy lawyers in league with conniving judges and bureaucrats plunder huge chunks - and sometines all- of an estate.
First let's see what's wrong with probate, and then let's see how you can avoid probate - so that your family can get to keep the assets that are rightfully theirs.
There are three things wrong with probate: 1. In most states, probate fees are set by law as a percent of the "gross" estate. 2. It takes too long. On the average it takes two to five years to settle an estate. For all practical purposes, the estate is frozen during probate while the judges, court officials and attorneys have a field day picking it apart. The beneficiaries, in the meantime, wait, wait and wait. 3. Unwanted publicity it creates. Everything in probate court is a matter of public record and unfortunately, they're individuals who go from probate court to probate court compiling lists which are then sold to unscrupulous people who prey on widows and try to separate them from their inheritance.
HOW CAN YOU ESCAPE FROM THE VAGARIES OF PROBATE?
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