Having a will does not avoid probate, but it does make clear who you wish to put in charge of your estate and who you wish to give your estate to. A will controls assets that pass under it. Assets can also pass outside the will with co-ownership, payable on death beneficiary designations, a trust, or other estate planning strategies. When you work with the attorneys at Lauren Richardson Law, they will assist you in designing an estate plan that likely includes a will but also includes other documents and strategies to avoid probate in most cases.

There are online forms and online services for will preparation, but based on our experience over the last 30 years, we recommend that you work one-on-one with an experienced attorney to prepare your personalized documents. Too many times, we have seen self-prepared documents that fall short and fail to carry out the wishes of the person who prepared them without a lawyer. 

Probate avoidance is the goal of most of our clients. We explore in great detail all of the options for our clients and come up with a plan to avoid probate of real estate, accounts, and other assets whenever possible. We utilize trusts, beneficiary designations, and ladybird deeds to avoid probate depending on asset types and client goals for their plan.