The recent death of Frank Sinatra has brought about a lot of speculation not just about what happened while he was alive but what will happen now that he has passed away.

Specifically, many people are wondering what will happen to his sizeable estate; who it will go to and how it will be distributed. The fact is that almost all of those who wonder about this will probably keep on wondering. The reason is that Mr. Sinatra had a Living Trust instead of an ordinary will. His Living Trust kept his estate out of probate.

Because a Living Trust is completely private no one will find out any of the specifics of his estate plan because his Living Trust is not open to the nosey people that probate would otherwise allow. This is as it should be.

But then the question is what happens to the estate of people who die without having their assets in a Living Trust. If you have a will (that is testate) or have no estate plan at all (that is intestate) your entire estate will go through probate. Wills don't avoid probate, Wills REQUIRE by law that you estate goes through a completely unnecessary, worthless, and detrimental process called probate.

Probate takes between 1 to 3 years, on average over 18 months, costs between 5 to 10% of your total estate and is totally public. What does total public mean? Imagine doing this. On a blank sheet of paper list all of your assets, every asset that you own, your financial assets, your real estate assets, everything. List a detailed description of your assets. For each and every asset give a to the penny dollar value. On a second sheet of paper list all of your liabilities, who your creditors are, what the purpose of each debt is, and a to the penny dollar value of each and every debt. On a third sheet of paper list who your estate will be distributed to, how it will be distributed, what specific gifts of property will be distributed and to whom, and who will be disinherited from your estate. Take these papers down to the probate court. Walk up to the probate clerk and hand these 3 sheets to the probate clerk and instruct him to post these sheets on the bulletin board in the hallway because you want the whole world to know exactly what is going on in your estate right now while you are still alive. I don't know anyone who would do that while they are alive, but the process that I just described to you happens (as required by law) when your estate goes through probate.

With probate anyone in the world can go down and look this information up. Anyone includes unscrupulous solicitors, unscrupulous creditors, nosey neighbors, and nosey relatives, all of the people that you would not what to know what’s going on in your estate right now would be able to do so after you die if you have probate. If you are a surviving spouse you would be the person about whom all of this information would be known. Probate is COMPLETELY public.

Probate in fact is so public that you can go on the internet and look up the full text of he wills of the following wealthy and famous people: Diana, Princess of Wales, Harry Helmsley, Jerry Garcia, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Chief Justice Warren Burger, resident Richard M. Nixon, John Lennon, Elvis Presley, Walt Disney, Marilyn Monroe, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, Babe Ruth, and many others. Just remember, wills are completely public, Living Trusts are completely private.