Probate — described by all present as "public, slow, and expensive" — entered its second financial quarter on Tuesday.
Sarah M. knows exactly what her late husband wanted done with the family's savings. He told her. He wrote it down. She has, nonetheless, spent six months waiting for a court to appoint a stranger to formally inform her of it.
The process — known as probate — exists to settle the estates of people who did not plan. David planned. He simply planned with a will, which is a document that does its most important work inside a courthouse, in public, on the court's schedule.
"I have a folder," Sarah told reporters. "It's a very good folder. The judge has not yet been able to look at my folder."
Probate filings are public record, meaning the size and contents of the estate — including the part denominated in Bitcoin — are now available to anyone curious enough to ask the clerk.
She knew the answer in March. The system expects to confirm it by autumn.
Court-watchers estimate the matter will resolve sometime after the next two hearings, the second of which exists primarily to schedule the third.
Everything above is satire. Here is how it actually goes when you fix it.
Why the trust skips all of this
A will is honored in probate court: public, slow, often months, and a matter of record. A revocable living trust avoids it entirely. The trust — not the person — owns the assets, so when they die, the successor trustees step in by the terms of the document and the assets never enter probate at all. No judge, no public filing, no six-month wait.
How bitcoin-assistance helps
The assistant doesn't create the trust — your attorney does. But bitcoin-assistance builds and maintains the vault the trust owns, and keeps a clear, current record of who the successor trustees are, so when the handoff comes the people named can actually step in and reach the coins. The trust skips the courthouse; the vault makes sure the people it names aren't left guessing.
A will tells a courtroom what you wanted. A trust just hands it to your family. The vault makes sure they can open it.
Background, not legal advice. Trust law is state law and probate rules vary — the structure must be drafted by a licensed attorney. See The Paper Side.