Why people want to avoid probate.

Jim: Mr. Olsen, you often talk about avoiding probate. I'm just wondering why that's important?

Attorney Tom Olsen: Because probate is expensive, and it takes a long time. Most people are interested in avoiding probate simply because of those two reasons. Florida Statutes recommends an attorney fee to be equal to 3% of the value of those assets that go through probate. If somebody passes away with a $500,000 estate, Florida Statutes recommends an attorney fee of 3%, $15,000. Florida Statutes recommends an executive fee of 3%, $15,000. In theory, if you did a $500,000 estate, you'd have $30,000 in fees going to the executor of your estate, and the attorney handling the probate. That's a lot of money people want to avoid, Jim.

Jim: Well, that's answering my question. Thank you very much.

Attorney Tom Olsen: All right, Jim. Jim, we have a free booklet on Easy Ways to Avoid Probate. If you want to get that free booklet, you can call the Olsen Law Group in Orlando anytime at 407 423 5561. Let's add something else to it is if you have a vacation home in North Carolina or any other State, you'd have to do probate in Florida and in North Carolina. Your double whammy.

Attorney Chris Merrill: Correct. Which also now extends the time. Why? Because typically, if you are starting that probate here in Florida, you have to get certain documentation from the court here before you can start it in another State.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Yes. Jim's question is a good one, but Chrissy, we know from experience and whenever we're meeting with clients, we talk to them about, "Okay, now let's talk about avoiding probate." Most of them will shake their heads like, "Yes, I know. I get it. I understand. I'm going to do this. I had a parent. I had a friend. I had this. I had that that went through probate. I know what a time-consuming mess it was. Yes, I definitely want to avoid probate"

Attorney Chris Merrill: Exactly and even though we do a lot of probates in our office, why? Because again, for all these reasons, unfortunately, people did not do the right things before they passed away. We spend an enormous amount of time trying to help them to avoid it. To Jim's point, the reason why he hears us talking about on the radio so much, and we talk to really hundreds of people every week, we're talking to among us about how to help them avoid it, because hopefully, this answers Jim's question and gives a little sense to all of you listeners out there, just a few of the reasons of why it is really helpful to the entire family to avoid it. Of course, we didn't even mention the big one. The big one is because it's about helping to avoid conflict.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Well, let's talk about that in a minute, but I want to go full circle with their story too because then what happens often is that mom will pass away. The kids will give us a call on the phone to say, "Tom, Chrissy, oh, my goodness, everything was simple. We appreciate it. Thank you much for what you did to mom. Oh, it's simple. When she passed away, all we had to do was this, and it was done."

Attorney Chris Merrill: That's the people that listen and have us do it right.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Exactly.

Attorney Chris Merrill: That's important.

Attorney Tom Olsen: When we talk about avoiding conflict, Chrissy, I've been a lawyer for 40 years. Back in the day, 40-years-ago when mom and dad passed away, very rare would the kids fight with each other. These days, man, there's at least a 50% that kids are going to be arguing with each other. There's a very good possibility one or more of them will never talk to each other again. When we get people's affairs in order, make things simple, easy, clear, inexpensive for them, when mom and dad have passed away, a lot less opportunity for them to argue with each other, and therefore are much more likely to come out of this thing still being friends.

Attorney Chris Merrill: Exactly. It's not just about avoiding probate, but it's about avoiding family conflict.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Olsen Law Group folks, we'd love to help you with that. It could start by somebody as easy as getting a booklet Easy Ways to Avoid Probate by calling our office at 407 423 5561 or going through our website olsenlawgroup.com and requesting that booklet. Remember that we do regular workshops on Easy Ways to Avoid Probate as well. You can come to one of our workshops. It's very easy to understand.

You're going to get it. It's just that simple folks, just a little bit of explanation you understand. Then you do some work. We do some work and make things simple, easy inexpensive for your children when you pass away. Hey folks, my name is Tom Olsen. Name of the show is Olsen on Law. We're going to take a break. We'll be back in just a few minutes.