Law Office of Rick Todd Blog

To write a valid will in the state of Maryland you need to quite a few things. Here’s a discussion of what most people require when they draft their will.

Here in my office in Columbia, Howard County, Maryland, I have been asked on occasion about some of issues facing trust administration. Trust administration is necessary for those who wish to avoid probate or who have young children. I’m not going to discuss trust types for this blog entry. I’m going to stick to trust administration solely because it is an issue that often overlooked when clients decide they need to draft a trust.

Do you need a trust? Trusts are used to avoid the estate tax, protect assets from lawsuits and avoid probate. An estate planning attorney will tell you whether that is necessary. Trusts are more expensive than wills are alone. The trusts used to avoid the estate tax and protect assets are very expensive. You may also not need them.

Probate is a judicial action that the vast majority of society has to go through when they die, particularly if they have inheritable assets.  Probate doesn’t occur everywhere; it takes place in the county seat (capital) of the county where the deceased person resided and had assets.

In Maryland, probate occurs at the Register of Wills; the Register of Wills is commonly found at the circuit (state not federal) court house. In Howard County, that is in Ellicott City, Prince George’s County’s is in Upper Marlboro, Montgomery County’s is in Rockville, etc. Register of Wills offices can be tiny operations with less than a dozen employees to enormous operations with hundreds of employees as is found in both Montgomery and Baltimore Counties.