- Their primary home
- Two rental properties
- A small piece of raw land they intended to develop one day
But despite all this, they had zero estate planning.
Steve admitted, “If something happened to me, the kids wouldn’t know who controls what. Honestly, it scares me.”
I explained the truth: Every property would go through probate — one by one, individually, slowly, and publicly. This meant:
- Months (or even years) of court delays
- Frozen rental income
- Tenants stuck in limbo
- A judge deciding who gets managerial control
- Increased likelihood of family conflict
- Thousands in legal fees
Marlene looked at Steve and said, “We’ve worked too hard to have everything tied up in court.”
THE PLAN
We built a comprehensive plan:
- A Revocable Living Trust holding all four properties
- Retitling deeds to the trust
- A Pour-Over Will as a safety net
- Successor trustees to manage rentals if either spouse passed
- Property management instructions so rent checks never stopped
- TOD/POD alignment on all bank accounts
- Updated beneficiaries on life insurance and retirement assets
THE OUTCOME
Today, if anything happens:
- Every property avoids probate
- Rental income continues uninterrupted
- The kids receive their inheritance cleanly and privately
- No judge, no delays, no chaos
Steve later told me,
“You didn’t just give us an estate plan — you saved our entire real estate legacy.”