Doesn the cost of a Revocable Trust exceed the filing fees saved during the probate process?
The costs avoided or reduced by having a Revocable Trust which owns all or most of your assets at death include: (a) court filing fees and (b) legal fees. For example, in Fairfax County, Virginia, the probate filing fees which are charged in order to begin the probate process are 1/10 of 1% of the gross value of your assets, measured at the date of death (NOT the net value of the assets after subtracting for debts). These filing fees can be high and are completely avoided by having assets owned by a Revocable Trust before death. In addition, the probate process cannot be completed until several other items are filing with the local Commissioner of Accounts, including an Inventory (which reports the nature and value of all estate assets) and Accounting (which reports transaction-by-transaction all of the activity in the estate, including debts, payments to beneficiaries, income, etc.). The Inventory and Accounting are most often prepared by my law firm and depending on the size and natu
