JJ Luna  Reply to Wendy  Submitted by: Larry, ,      Age: 40 I
want to define some terms here first. Every state legislature
has passed legislation that determines how an estate is settled
if the decedent (dead person) doesn't let anyone know what they
want done with their estate, or they create a will. These laws
are called the probate laws. They are administered in probate
court.  Probate is a court process, which is why it has a
reputation for being slow, and therefore expensive. When you're
paying a probate attorney by the hour, slow is expensive.  Every
state, in theory, has a different set of laws and a different
process to administer them. A trust, just like an LLC, gets it's
authority from the state legislature. What is this thing called
authority that state legislatures must give for something to
have the force of law? Let's say I have a document in my hand
that is called "document B". If the Arizona legislature passes
legislation that says "document B" is legally binding when it is
signed, then that