Another Cost a Will Can Avoid

A properly drafted Will can save your beneficiaries costs in many different ways. One of those ways that people don’t ordinarily think about is the cost of a bond.

A Will can contain a provision that waives the requirement that the executor post a bond. If your Will does not have this provision or if you don’t have a Will then a bond will be required. These bonds can be very expensive. In many cases the cost of the bond is more than the cost of preparing a Will.

For example, if a person’s estate has a value of $100,000.00 the cost of the bond would be $1,500.00.

The statutory requirement for a bond is that it be equal to 150% of the value of the estate. The premium for the bond is 1% of the value of the bond. No the bond premium is not refundable. So using the example of the $100,000.00 estate (and yes that does include the value of real estate) the bond would be $100,000.00 X 150% X 1% bond premium = $1,500.00.

Again this cost can be avoided entirely by having a Will that contains a provision waiving the requirement that the executor post a bond.

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