Bad Question: “I want to avoid probate can you create a revocable trust?”

Getting a good result from your estate planning starts with asking good questions that a tailored to your circumstances. Questions posed by AI to ask an estate planning attorney, especially when the prompts to ask the questions were posed by someone with more limited estate planning expertise, may lead you to a less than ideal result. You have to ask good questions to get a good answer and a good estate planning result. You may be able do it for free with proper beneficiary designations and asset titles, but that is probably not what you want. Also, the person asking was a surgeon married to a real estate developer, both about 40 years old. Don’t you think asset protection is more important than probate? The answer is yes. So, of course you can still avoid probate, but focus you attention on the important matters. They had drunk the “avoid probate” Kool Aid and could hear nothing more. For some people you can avoid probate by just putting assets in joint or POD (Pay on Death) accounts. That is not always a good result but in some instances it may suffice. You need to ask broader questions to be sure you are heading down the right estate planning path.