CPAS & PROBATE SERVICES
PROBATE: A CLOSER LOOK
WHY ACCOUNTANTS ARE CRITICAL TO ESTATE PLANNING & PROBATE From calculating estate tax exposure to filing final income tax returns, CPAs play an essential role in ensuring your estate plan works as intended. After someone passes away, probate often triggers a long list of financial responsibilities. Having a knowledgeable accountant or probate professional involved can prevent delays, penalties, and conflicts.
At Snyder Law, we often coordinate with CPAs to create seamless plans that blend legal protections with financial compliance. This ensures fewer surprises for your loved ones and greater clarity when it matters most.
The loss of a loved one is without a doubt a difficult time. The grief alone involved in the passing of a loved one can be all-consuming, and if this is combined with the need for the probate process, it absolutely makes sense if you’re overwhelmed. Snyder Law can help alleviate some of the stress involved with the probate process so that you can take the appropriate time and care to grieve for and remember your loved one. In simple terms, probate is the court process required to handle a deceased individual’s affairs when that individual had a will, or passed away without an estate plan at all. The probate court will: • Determine whether a will is valid and appoint an individual to manage the estate • If the deceased left a will, this person is called an executor. • If the deceased passed without a will, or “intestate,” this person is called an administrator. • Inventory and appraise the estate property, pay debts and taxes, administer the transfer of property
If an individual did not have a trust, and had assets in their estate totalling over $184,500, the estate must be probated. Most people have a negative connotation with the probate process because it is time-consuming, expensive, and public. In California, probate fees are determined by the Probate code and are based on the value of the estate: • 4% of the first $100,000 ($4000) • 3% of the next $100,000 ($3000) • 2% of the next $800,000 ($16,000) • 1% of the next $9 Million (up to $90,000) • 0.5% of the next $15 Million (up to $75,000) • Above $25 Million: Reasonable amount to be determined by the Court. For these reasons, and due to the uncertainty of leaving the probate court to decide what happens to your loved one’s estate, headache and heartache can occur. Estate planning with a trust can avoid the probate process. However, if you find yourself already in the probate process, Snyder Law can help minimize the confusion associated with probate so that your loved one’s affairs are wrapped up as efficiently as possible.
HOW CPAS SUPPORT LEGAL PLANNING
• Filing estate and fiduciary income tax returns (Form 706, 1041) • Helping determine date-of-death asset values • Tracking distributions for heirs and tax documentation • Providing guidance on tax-efficient gifting strategies • Ensuring compliance during trust or probate administration
“Even the best legal plan can be undone by tax mistakes — which is why smart collaboration makes all the difference.”
and assets to beneficiaries as directed by the will, or heirs as determined by California law.
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