If you’ve been appointed personal representative of a probate estate, it is likely you are wondering what your duties are and what steps you are required to take. Probate proceedings are often time consuming because they are full of confusing procedural requirements.

Setting up a revocable trust is like building a treasure chest. When you pass away you want that treasure chest to go to your children, or other beneficiaries, filled with your property and assets. But what happens if the chest is empty when your heirs receive it? One of the biggest mistakes in estate planning is the failure to properly transfer your assets into your trust.

In this day and age, the nature of our assets is changing. Traditional estate planning tells us that we should have a will so that our real estate, bank accounts, and personal property will go to our children or other beneficiaries. However, as the age of computers progresses, so many of our assets are becoming digital and web-based. Physical photo album books are replaced with Facebook albums and cloud storage. Letters replaced by email. Cryptocurrency. Even bank accounts, investment accounts, stocks and retirement accounts can be set up and managed completely online.