Probate Court Will Make $17 Billion This Year—Most of It Comes From Families Like Yours

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]I find it absolutely astounding that 87% of Americans today when they die, their children, their beneficiaries, and their estate will be dragged through probate court.

[00:00:19]Now, if you're thinking, "Well, Seth, what do you mean probate court?" Let me explain to you what this process means.

[00:00:24]Because this is the big fat secret that state governments do not want you to know. That probate lawyers do not want you to know. In fact, they are set to make 17.2 billion off of your hard-earned living just in 2026 alone across the US. And they want you to stay ignorant because as long as you stay ignorant, you won't set up an estate plan. And the government is going to take a big fat chunk of it. The lowest we've seen is 5%. The highest is 50. You might be thinking, "Well, Seth, how does the government have a right to take some of my assets like my house, the money in my bank, my business, my crypto, my stocks, my bonds? How do they have the right to take that? It goes all the way back to the 1600s, over 100 years before America was even a country. The first settlers to America started this process in some of the original settlements and the colonies of the US, and they adopted it from England. And it goes like this.

[00:01:21]When Bobby McGee dies, all of his assets, his estate, and by the way, it doesn't matter if you have just a house and a little bit of money or you're a multi-millionaire, it doesn't matter.

[00:01:31]The government doesn't care. They're going to drag it through probate court.

[00:01:34]Bobby McGee dies, his assets go into probate court. In probate court is where Bobby McGee's children and any other people who could be potential beneficiaries of his estate will sit.

[00:01:47]Not for days, not for weeks, typically for years, while the government takes some of his estate to pay for deciding what to do with his estate. Just think about that. They take your money so they can decide what to do with your money.

[00:02:07]The lowest we've seen is 5%. The highest is 50. Imagine having a million dollar estate or even just a hundred,000. Like if you have a house and it's worth 300,000, they're going to take some of it in order to pay for those costs. And there is only one way to avoid this. But before I share with you how to avoid that, there's something else you need to know. Not only do your kids sit through court typically for years, not only does the government reduce the value of your assets, taking from your hard-earned work, they also make all this information public. Let me give you an example. When you die, a notice is sent by the government to anyone who may have a claim on your estate. For example, a kid, a grandkid, could be a niece or nephew, could be an ex, could be a stepchild, saying, "Would you like to make a claim against this estate?" Now, what does that do to people? Of course, I would. They have money I could get.

[00:03:02]Yeah, I want to make a claim. And so, all these people start putting in claims. That creates a lot of paperwork, creates a lot of administration. Guess who's paying for that? Your state. So, while this is happening, everything you saved up for, everything you earned that you want to go to your kids is starting to go down. But that's just the beginning. When people make a claim, if the government rejects the claim and says, "Nope, you're not entitled to a portion of this estate," then they give you the opportunity to sue where you sue the estate. Do you know what the most expensive lawyer fees are? It's not real estate lawyers. It's not business lawyers. It's not contract lawyers. It's lawsuit lawyers. It's litigation. It is the most expensive. Ask any lawyer. When something goes to court, the costs skyrocket. I know. I've been in court more than once. That's where you get to 5 6 7 8 9 $1,000 an hour. Oh, and who's paying for these lawsuits? Oh, that's right. Your estate. The money you worked for. While your kids are stuck in court and they're suing each other, your estate is being drained. Not to mention, what's even worse, we have seen family members stop talking to each other indefinitely. Like, my cousin just sued me. Why in the world would I want to talk to him? My brother just sued me over my mom's money. That's disgusting.

[00:04:23]It literally encourages people to sue each other. This is what happened to Larry King. Larry King was smart. Most of his estate he put into a trust and he funded it and he protected it, but he made one little mistake and the cost is incalculable.

[00:04:38]$2 million of his estate was never added to a trust. And as a result, his widow, his wife, and his son battled at each other's throats. And this went on for a year and five months, attacking each other in court. Is this the kind of legacy we want to leave our kids? Do we want their last memory about us to be we failed to plan out their estate so that they don't have to go to court? They don't have to see moms and dads wealth get reduced before they can have any.

[00:05:11]They don't have to see all the bank accounts frozen, which happens often.

[00:05:15]Oh, and by the way, there's something else. Not only does it encourage lawsuits, but their entire industry is built off of scamming people's families when there was a death in the family.

[00:05:26]They will go in and they will pretend to be the dead person so they can move money into their account. This happens all the time. There's an entire industry built off of this because all the information is public. And the more wealth there is, the more tempting it is. Here's the crazy part. To avoid all this, you just got to do one thing. You create a trust. And you put your assets for you put your assets into the trust. It literally is that simple. If you don't have a trust and you have not put your assets into the trust, when you die, your family by law goes through probate court. By law, the government will reduce the amount of your assets. By law, everything becomes public and this invites lawsuits and scammers at an unprecedented level. The cost of setting up an estate plan is minuscule compared to the cost your family will suffer if you don't have one. Let me give you an example. You might have heard the name of Howard Hughes, multi-billionaire aviator filmmaker who lived back in the 1950s,60s7s.

[00:06:42]This guy died one year before I was born. I was born in 1977. He died in 1976.

[00:06:50]Probate court for his estate did not end until I was 33 years old.

[00:06:58]34 years of family feuds, 34 years of lawsuits, 34 years of the state government and probate lawyers making bank off of his estate. Look, this does not have to be you. It really is simple.

[00:07:12]You simply have an estate plan set up.

[00:07:16]Now, if you want to know how to do that, join the community below. It's 100% free. Get inside and I'll walk you through a five video series on exactly how to set up your estate plan and doing it in a way that actually works. Cuz let me tell you something, most estate planning lawyers and attorneys are not incentivized to teach you how to get the assets into the trust. But see, if you don't have that part taken care of, your trust is a worthless piece of paper.

[00:07:44]It's like having a safe that you got for your firearms and your precious jewels, but you didn't put them inside. What does it do? Nothing. Oh, cool safe. It's awesome. It's not protecting anything.

[00:07:54]What was the point? That's why we show clients exactly how one can fund a trust. Click the link below. Join the free community. I'll see you on the inside and we'll provide all the support we