Taxation & Estate Planning

Tough Times and Probate

By Joel A. Schoenmeyer

This is a Canadian article, but it applies the same here in the US -- "Tough times making even probate practice riskier."

The main thing I've seen is more financial stress on the heirs. Most of them didn't expect a huge windfall, but probate has been turned from a net gain to a net loss (at least in the short term). Often the heirs are the children, and the bad real estate market has forced them to assume all expenses related to their parent's home (real estate taxes, utilities, sometimes even a mortgage) while they wait for it to be sold.

Full post as published by Death and Taxes Blog on February 11, 2009 (boomark / email).