Expert Allison Harrison: ‘Probate Could Cost You $16,000. An Estate Plan Costs $4,000.’

You may think you can’t afford estate planning, or that you don’t need it. But can you afford not to?

That was the question estate planning attorney Allison Harrison recently asked on the Catching Up to FI podcast. If you have assets and no plan, the court system writes one for you, and your heirs pay the bill, she explained.

In Ohio, which Harrison says tracks how most states handle this, probate on an estate over $100,000 takes at least 8 months and can stretch to 14 to 18. Attorney fees run roughly $6,000. The fiduciary who shepherds the estate through court collects on a sliding scale: 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $300,000, 2% above that, and 1% of real estate. For a typical middle-class estate, the total lands near $16,000. An estate plan created before death only costs about $2,000 to $4,000.

Probate is also public, so “every bank account gets line itemed, every piece of real estate gets line itemed, the value of the business, all of that’s made public record,” Harrison said.

Spending $4,000 today to save your family $16,000 (and a year and a half of court delays) is one of the highest-return financial decisions most people will ever make, Harrison suggested. With the U.S. personal savings rate sitting at 4% in the first quarter of 2026, households have less cushion to absorb a surprise five-figure legal hit. The probate fee comes out of the same accounts your spouse or kids were counting on.

Harrison and the podcast hosts offered other estate planning tips on the show.

The healthcare directive nobody can find

Do you have a healthcare directive? Do you and your family know where it is? Bill Yount, an ER physician and co-host of the podcast, said “the default in the ER is let’s keep them alive until we can figure out what’s going on” when documents are missing. He has watched families insist they hold healthcare power of attorney while staff ask, “Where’s the paperwork?” Harrison’s warning: “So often these things are hidden. It’s in a safe deposit box, which, by the way, is the worst place to put any of these documents because no one can get to it.”

Tell your agent where the originals live. Leave copies with your financial planner or in a known digital folder. Inform more than one trusted person.

The joint account trap and the 2FA wall

Adult children often add themselves to an aging parent’s checking account to help pay bills. Harrison calls this a mistake: “Now Dad’s subject to your liability, and you’re subject to Dad’s liability.” Owe the IRS? They can pull from Dad’s balance. A financial power of attorney accomplishes the same goal without the exposure. Harrison’s tip: search “healthcare power of attorney” plus your state name and look for a .gov result. “Almost every state has a standardized healthcare and financial power of attorney that is available for free on a state website,” she said.

Digital life adds complexity. Harrison was once an agent who had passwords but no access. “Everything had a two-factor authentication and I had the passwords,” she recalled. “I didn’t have the phone or the email to get the codes.” Venmo, Zelle, Cash App, and crypto wallets need explicit instructions. Use a password manager like 1Password or LastPass, and set up Apple and Google legacy contacts now.

Fund the trust, or it’s just paper

Harrison’s most overlooked step: “You spent this money to build this document that works exactly how you want it, but now you have to get stuff into it.” Retitle the house, the cars, and the bank accounts into the trust’s name. Then call your insurer. If you move a car or home title without notifying your carrier, “it can create havoc. Is there coverage? Is there not?”

Not every reader needs a trust. Harrison says “a lot of people think they need them and they don’t. We actually talk people out of them pretty frequently.” A dual-income couple with no kids and around $2 million in retirement accounts can often pass everything by transfer-on-death designations. Trusts earn their keep when minors are involved, when an heir struggles with addiction or creditors, or when generational wealth is in play.

What to do this week

1. Download your state’s free healthcare and financial power of attorney forms from a .gov site, sign them, and tell two people where the originals are.
2. Audit titling on your home, vehicles, brokerage, and bank accounts. Add transfer-on-death or beneficiary designations where allowed.
3. Set legacy contacts in Apple and Google, and document 2FA recovery methods in a password manager.
4. If you already have a trust, confirm every major asset is titled into it, and notify your insurance carrier of any title change.
5. Re-read your will. Harrison discovered her own mother’s will was written when Harrison was 5 years old, with outdated guardianship designations.

Yount’s advice: “Take that action, write it down, get it done, give yourself a timeline.” Co-host Jackie Cummings Koski’s encouragement for anyone starting late: “It’s never too late to start. It’s better late than never.” The money and time you spend now on estate planning is the cheapest insurance policy your family will ever receive.