ADVERTISING: ADVERTORIAL - Is avoiding probate right for your family? A guide for Idaho residents

When clients first come to my office to discuss estate planning, they often ask about probate with a sense of urgency: "How do we avoid it?" I understand the automatic desire to avoid something that sounds bad, and for many of my clients, avoiding probate should be a goal. However, that is not always the case, and before you invest time and money into probate avoidance strategies, it's worth taking a step back to understand whether this should actually be a priority for your family.

Understanding Probate in Idaho

First, let's clarify what probate actually is. Probate is the court-supervised process of distributing a deceased person's assets. In Idaho, probate can be relatively straightforward, especially for smaller estates. Idaho offers informal probate proceedings for some estates, which can be less costly and time-consuming than the formal process people often fear. Often the complicating factor in probate is real estate ownership. For my clients who do not own any real property (which would mean they don’t own their home either), probate may not be an issue of too much concern as long financial assets have beneficiary designations.

That said, probate does involve court fees, attorney costs, and public disclosure of your estate details. The process typically takes nine months to a year or more, during which beneficiaries may have limited access to assets. So, there are very good reasons to want to avoid it.

When Avoiding Probate Makes Sense

Consider making probate avoidance a priority if your family falls into these categories:

You have significant assets. If your estate is substantial, includes any real property, includes one or more businesses, includes real property in other stated, or includes other complicated assets, the time and expense of probate will likely outweigh the cost of establishing probate avoidance tools like a revocable living trust.

You value privacy. Probate is a public process. Anyone can access court records to see what you owned, what it was worth, and who inherited it. If privacy about these things matters to you or your family, probate avoidance strategies can keep your affairs much more confidential.

You own property in multiple states. If you own real estate in Idaho and also have a vacation home or a rental property in another state, your family would likely have to perform probate proceedings in both states — and incur all the costs of doing so. A living trust can help consolidate administration into a single process, avoiding probate in all jurisdictions.

Your family dynamics are complicated. If you anticipate disputes among heirs or have concerns about someone contesting your will, avoiding probate through proper trust planning can make challenges more difficult. However, I’ve also seen scenarios where challenging family dynamics meant that using the court system right from the start made the most sense, so sometimes the best strategy for this scenario is not to avoid probate. Every situation is unique.

You want your family to have immediate access to assets. Probate can tie up assets for months. If your spouse, children, or other beneficiaries need quick access to funds for living expenses, probate avoidance ensures they're not left waiting.

When Probate Avoidance May Not Be Worth It

On the other hand, probate might not be a concern if:

Your estate is modest. Idaho law allows small estates (currently under $100,000) that do not include any real property to use simplified procedures. For these estates, the cost of establishing and maintaining probate avoidance tools may exceed any probate costs.

You're young and healthy. Estate planning is important at any age, but if you're in your 20s or 30s with decades ahead of you, a simpler will-based plan might make sense now. You can always establish a trust later as your circumstances change. Note, however, that once you have children there are really good reasons (beyond probate avoidance) in favor of establishing a living trust. So, you may have other reasons to use those tools.

Your assets already avoid probate. Some assets pass outside of probate automatically: retirement accounts with beneficiary designations, life insurance policies with beneficiaries, jointly owned property with rights of survivorship, and payable-on-death bank accounts. If most of your assets is in these forms, additional probate avoidance planning may be unnecessary.

The Bottom Line

The question isn't whether probate is "bad" — it's whether avoiding it serves your specific family's needs and circumstances. The best estate plan is one that's actually completed and properly maintained, not necessarily the simplest one or the most complex one.

Before deciding on your strategy, talk with an Idaho estate planning attorney who can evaluate your unique situation. We can help you weigh the costs and benefits of various approaches and create a plan that gives you peace of mind without unnecessary complexity.

My law firm is currently offering free telephonic, electronic, or in-person consultations concerning probates and probate alternatives, creating or reviewing estate planning documents, and guardianship/conservatorship procedures for incapacitated adults.

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Robert J. Green is an Elder Law, Trust, Estate, & Guardianship Attorney and the owner of Kootenai Law Group, PLLC in Coeur d’Alene. If you have questions about estate planning, probates, wills, trusts, powers of attorney, guardianships, Medicaid planning, or VA Benefit planning, contact Kootenai Law at 208-765-6555, [email protected], or visit www.KootenaiLaw.com.

This has been presented as general information and not as legal advice. Do not engage in legal decision-making without the advice of a competent attorney after discussion of your specific circumstances.