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[0:00] Welcome to Ties That Bind, Law, Family, and Legacy.
[0:05] Welcome back to Ties That Bind, Law, Family, and Legacy
[0:08] in Ms. Patti Garner.
[0:09] Patti is a Tennessee attorney who focuses
[0:11] on a state planning and probate, helping individuals
[0:14] and families make clear, thoughtful decisions about future,
[0:17] and avoid unnecessary complications down the road.
[0:20] With over 20 years of legal experience,
[0:22] she brings a straightforward, practical approach
[0:24] to these conversations.
[0:26] I'm Evan McA today.
[0:27] We're talking about whether a trust can help you
[0:29] avoid probate in the state of Tennessee,
[0:31] and what has to happen for that strategy to work.
[0:33] Ms. Patti, welcome back.
[0:34] Hey, Evan, thanks.
[0:35] Great to see you.
[0:36] Good to see you, too.
[0:37] So does having a trust automatically mean
[0:40] your estate will avoid probate, Ms. Patti?
[0:43] The typical law school answer, maybe yes, maybe no.
[0:47] It depends.
[0:48] And it absolutely can.
[0:49] But it depends on do you create the trust
[0:52] and then do you follow through and fund it?
[0:54] Because without the funding, the trust
[0:56] is really just a contract.
[0:58] It really just lays out what I could do,
[1:00] but if I don't fund my trust and move my property
[1:04] into the trust so that it's controlled by the document,
[1:08] then it really doesn't do us any good.
[1:11] But if you've written the trust
[1:14] and you have funded the trust,
[1:16] you can absolutely almost completely avoid probate.
[1:21] You've done different episodes there, Ms. Patti.
[1:22] And I'm sure you've explained it to people that are maybe just
[1:25] two in an in or finding this episode.
[1:27] Can you kind of, if in layman's term,
[1:29] break down what probate is?
[1:30] If you have a will and you die in the state of Tennessee,
[1:34] then somebody has to run the court.
[1:36] They have to get appointed as the administrator.
[1:38] And then let's say we've got a child
[1:40] or we've got an an or uncle somebody
[1:42] who either you didn't include or you didn't want included.
[1:45] And then they come in and they try to contest it.
[1:48] So now we've opened the door to chaos
[1:50] because they're not happy with what they got from your estate
[1:53] or what they received under your will.
[1:55] Whereas if you have the trust and it's all set up correctly,
[2:00] then we don't even enter that door of the probate house.
[2:03] So with that being said,
[2:04] how does a trust keep certain assets out of probate there, Vanny?
[2:08] So if you have a house and you pass away in the state of Tennessee,
[2:13] somebody has to take control of that house.
[2:15] With a trust, if you have funded it into the trust,
[2:18] then the trustee immediately has control of the house
[2:21] and they can sell the property.
[2:23] They can move the property to another person.
[2:26] They can follow your wishes and do whatever you ask them to do
[2:29] without
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having to do anything else.
[2:31] They just simply strike a stroke of a pin
[2:34] and do what they need to do.
[2:35] But if you have to go to court
[2:38] because we're going into probate,
[2:40] then we have to, let's say the house has a mortgage on it.
[2:43] And the house payment has to be made.
[2:45] The heirs don't have the money to make that house payment.
[2:47] So the only way to move that along
[2:50] is we got to get the house sold
[2:51] so that we don't have to worry about those house payments.
[2:54] So we have to open the estate.
[2:55] It has to be open for four months.
[2:57] We have to sell the real estate.
[2:59] You have to get permission to list the real estate.
[3:02] Then you have to get permission from a judge
[3:04] to approve a contract that has been,
[3:06] if there's an offer made.
[3:08] And sometimes getting those hearing dates,
[3:11] that can take a couple of weeks.
[3:13] Sometimes it can take longer,
[3:14] depending on the court's schedule.
[3:16] It just really opens the door for chaos.
[3:20] That could really all be avoided
[3:23] by proper planning and funding into a trust.
[3:27] How do you get that information of people though, Ms. Prattie?
[3:30] How do you kind of convey that urgency or that importance?
[3:34] You know what I mean?
[3:35] When you're encountering people that don't really
[3:38] maybe understand that kind of process.
[3:41] So I'm really hopeful that by having these kind of conversations,
[3:46] it opens everybody's eyes and their minds
[3:49] to what needs to be done.
[3:50] So the only way you can do that
[3:52] is just trying to get the word out there.
[3:54] You know, I tell anybody and everybody that'll listen,
[3:56] hey, you need to talk to an estate plan in attorney.
[3:59] I'm happy to do a consultation, those consults are free.
[4:02] But let's talk about what you're doing with your stuff.
[4:04] Let's talk about where it's going.
[4:06] Let's talk about where you want it to be
[4:08] and how you foresee leaving your legacy.
[4:10] But what determines whether an asset has to go
[4:13] through that probate process?
[4:15] There are a couple of things.
[4:17] So like you can set up the trust and design your trust.
[4:21] You can leave it in a wheel.
[4:23] And you can do some planning that probably is antiquated.
[4:29] But if you have bank accounts and you do paid on death
[4:32] and you pay it to your niece or your nephew or your child,
[4:37] then that passes outside the estate.
[4:39] And maybe you want that, maybe you don't.
[4:41] So that wouldn't have to go through probate.
[4:44] But if you have a large amount of money in a bank account
[4:47] that you want to be controlled by the trust document
[4:50] that you created or by the will document that you created,
[4:53] then you need to pay it to the will or to your estate
[4:56] or to the trust.
[4:58] Either one of those would manage that.
[5:00] One of them, the last will and testament,
[5:03] is a ticket to probate core,
[5:04] which is just a ticket to create the chaos.
[5:07] The trust, on the other hand,
[5:09] would simply disperse the money the way you direct in your trust.
[5:13] No court approval necessary.
[5:15] But can a trust avoid probate for property, real estate,
[5:19] things like that?
[5:20] Yes, so long as it's funded.
[5:21] So long as those things get retitled and redirected,
[5:25] we include in our package something called
[5:27] an assignment of personal property.
[5:29] So that means anything that I have that's a picnic table,
[5:33] a dining room table, a bedroom suit,
[5:36] a beautiful oil painting, whatever it may be,
[5:39] all of that transfers to the estate upon my past.
[5:42] That sounds like a painting of buddies
[5:44] or am I overthinking it, is it a pain or no?
[5:46] You know, it's not.
[5:48] It would require a little bit of time,
[5:50] probably on your end as much as five hours,
[5:53] spread out over two to three meetings
[5:55] with your estate planning attorney.
[5:58] And that would also include signing.
[6:03] But beyond that, I don't know of anything else
[6:06] that would be required.
[6:07] Other than every three to five years,
[6:09] we want to have a follow-up conversation
[6:11] and say, hey, have you bought property?
[6:13] Have you done something?
[6:14] Did you fund it to your trust?
[6:15] What do we need to do?
[6:16] So can part of an estate go through probate
[6:19] while the other asset passes through a trust?
[6:22] It could.
[6:23] It could if the personal property didn't get moved
[6:29] into the trust or if you buy another piece of real estate
[6:32] and you don't title it to the trust,
[6:34] then there is a possibility that we have a trust
[6:37] that is only partially operational
[6:41] in the sense of how it protects you.
[6:43] So what about the beneficiary designations?
[6:46] Can they also keep assets out of probate, Miss Patty?
[6:50] They can.
[6:51] So your life insurance policy, if you've got that
[6:54] and you leave it to child one,
[6:56] and then you have a bank account,
[6:58] you leave child two as the paid on death beneficiary
[7:01] on that account,
[7:02] then those two items pass outside of probate
[7:05] and they pass outside the trust.
[7:06] What about the size of the estate?
[7:08] Does it affect whether probate is necessary
[7:11] in the state of Tennessee or it doesn't really matter?
[7:13] Does not really matter, no sir.
[7:15] So when you see these kind of things as far as this goes,
[7:18] what's the most difficult thing you see in this process?
[7:20] Is it kind of making people understand
[7:22] how the process works?
[7:23] Or is it just a lot of the things you have to go through
[7:26] legally to kind of make things work?
[7:27] What have you seen in your experience?
[7:29] The most difficult part is having a conversation
[7:33] with somebody who is not ready to have a conversation
[7:36] about the day they die,
[7:38] because they don't want to talk about it.
[7:40] They don't want to talk about what happens
[7:42] and maybe your spouse doesn't want to talk about what happens,
[7:44] but it is a critical conversation I believe to have.
[7:49] And it's one to where if you have it and you plan for it
[7:53] because we all know it's coming,
[7:55] I'm not getting out of here alive and you're not either.
[7:57] We all know it's coming, so let's plan for it.
[8:01] And let's set it up and protect it and create a legacy
[8:05] that does what you intend for your legacy to do.
[8:10] How do you approach that subject, though,
[8:12] as well as do you kind of give your own personal experiences?
[8:15] Do you know, because I believe you know,
[8:18] having that empathy as an attorney can kind of go a long way,
[8:22] but so how do you kind of use your skill setting,
[8:24] your experiences and things that you've gone through
[8:26] to kind of help that through?
[8:28] You know, usually by the time they get to me,
[8:31] they recognize the need,
[8:33] that they need to have the conversation.
[8:35] So there are already three quarters of the way there.
[8:38] They may not have a full understanding,
[8:40] but they recognize the need.
[8:41] They've had a spouse that's drug them into my office
[8:43] that says we're gonna do this.
[8:44] We've got to get this done.
[8:46] Or they've had an experience like the family,
[8:51] I'm working on a trust and it's 10 kids.
[8:53] I think we talked about that earlier
[8:54] where they wound up in probate.
[8:56] So what that's gonna end up doing is those kids
[9:00] are all gonna end up creating their own trust
[9:02] because they recognize the pain that a properly funded trust
[9:09] or a failure to properly fund a trust
[9:11] has created for their family.
[9:13] So they will each end up doing their own trust
[9:16] and they should because they're all adults
[9:18] and they all have their own children.
[9:20] And so that's kind of how it happens
[9:23] is people recognize the pain created by the chaos
[9:27] in probate court and they recognize,
[9:31] hey, this is not what I wanna do to my family and friends.
[9:34] This is not how I want them to perceive my legacy.
[9:37] I don't want them to think about all the misery
[9:39] that was created by having to be in court and do the things.
[9:43] I wanna take care of it for them.
[9:45] And the truth is when people think about how cost
[9:49] and how that's prohibitive or that kind of thing.
[9:52] The truth is setting up the trust is probably
[9:56] about the same cost as the beginning part
[9:59] of probating an estate.
[10:02] So when you think about that
[10:04] and then if you have the wild card and uncle niece nephew
[10:07] somebody comes in and contests that probate matter
[10:10] they can drag on for years.
[10:11] So a $5,000 thing over here where we create a trust
[10:16] starts out as a $5,000 thing in probate court most likely.
[10:20] But it could end up a $25,000 thing in probate court.
[10:24] And so from my perspective it's one of those,
[10:26] you either do it, you're either paying for it now
[10:29] or you're setting your kids up and your family up
[10:31] to pay for it later.
[10:33] How do you wanna handle that?
[10:34] I think you've handled it on your own.
[10:37] So speaking of that though what kind of problems can come up
[10:39] when a family expects a trust to avoid probate
[10:42] but it doesn't, what can they see?
[10:44] So if we don't properly fund it
[10:46] we don't get the accounts named into the name of the trust.
[10:48] So we create the trust document
[10:50] but then we don't do the next steps and have the follow up.
[10:53] Maybe we don't have the three year follow up
[10:56] with the estate planning attorney.
[10:58] So we talk about all the things that have been done since
[11:00] we last saw you, you know you come in and we say okay,
[11:03] what if you purchase, what have y'all done?
[11:04] What kind of accounts have created?
[11:07] Those are the things that we review and talk about
[11:09] so that your plan grows with you and updates with you
[11:14] so we can avoid that mishap for probate court.
[11:17] And before I get you out here, I was proud of,
[11:19] can you tell the people at home,
[11:21] what's your favorite thing about what you do?
[11:23] Why do you do what you do?
[11:25] Because I love the idea of planning a legacy
[11:29] and leaving your family in a better place
[11:34] once your plan is put into place.
[11:38] It removes the chaos, it removes the uncertainty
[11:42] and it's a design for such a beautiful life
[11:47] that you are gifting to your next generation.
[11:50] I can't argue with that, sounds good to me.
[11:52] Thank you so much.
[11:54] Yeah, absolutely.
[11:55] That's it for today's episode of ties
[11:57] that buying law, family and legacy with Ms. Patty Garner.
[12:00] If you have questions about your own estate planner,
[12:02] want to make sure you're making the right decision
[12:04] for your family, you can reach out
[12:05] to Ms. Patty Garner at Garner law firm
[12:07] by visiting pattybeetgarner.com.
[12:11] Thank you so much for listening
[12:12] and don't forget to like, subscribe and share this episode
[12:14] with someone who might need it.
[12:16] Y'all give me a call and let's plan your legacy.
[12:24] Thanks for watching.
[12:25] Be sure to hit that like and subscribe button
[12:28] and leave us a review in the comments.