The Estate is responsible for the debts. Assuming there are assets, most trust documents give the Trustee authority to settle all outstanding debts prior to distribution of the trust. Our lawyer’s approach was to contact the debtors and offer a percentage of the outstanding amount. Failure to pay off the debts could result in the debtor going after the Trustee or the beneficiaries to collect. For small amounts, nobody bothers. But the larger the amount, watch out. If you die broke, no problem – nothing to collect. 
Setting up an LLC is a good move. It makes transfers easier and those transfers will be controlled by the LLC document. You simply transfer the LLC interest, as opposed to part of the property or many provide for a buy out right as well. Sounds like mom has 50% of the LLC and the 2 kids, plus BIL have 16.7% each.
Here’s a short article about survivors’ responsibility for debts after the primary debtor’s death: https://www.moneytalksnews.com/what-happens-debt-after-death/
@LBowie wrote:Here’s another reason to avoid probate: privacy. I was executor of my dad’s estate. After the probate was announced in a legal publication (as required by law), I started getting lots of letters from realtors offering to buy “his” house. I am still getting them regularly from one realtor two and a half years later. The house in question belongs to my mother who is living in it! I find it painful and intrusive to get these letters and no way in hell would I ever consider working with that particular realtor who just won’t let up with the letters
We are still getting letters four years after my MIL died offering to buy the house. They now come to our house after the address change. Its awful.
There are many ways to find out people have died other than the required notice of publication of a probate proceeding. Number 1: Death notices.
Thanks @yourmomma I now have a call into the county to see what they did, don’t want to make BIL feel badly. Almost right, kids have the 1/3rd shares in the LLC covering 50% (1/6th if we had not deeded it into the LLC) of the farm and Mom has her 50% in her trust NOT the LLC .Undivided so I am trying hard to sell the entire property so we can just settle accounts based on cash.
@rosered55, yes, they find out people die, but they most easily find out what was OWNED via probate. Although genealogists love peering into wills, I’d just as soon keep my holdings out of their sight, unless it is 100 years later…
I agree, @esobay. My point is that it’s very easy to find out who owns a house, and how much that house is worth, without resorting to checking probate proceedings. In my county, this can all be done online using the county’s property access system. My ex-husbands’ parents have their property in trust; their house shows up in the county’s real property access system, just as mine shows up in my county’s.
Property records are public records, but trust papers are private. Big cheese like Besos never hold title to their property directly, so it is usually futile to look up their RE holdings. The title will say something like Olympic Mountain Trust (not Besos Family Trust). 
I am making this Trust name up, but the names used for such trusts are typically generic and not easily traceable to anyone.
Maybe I should have our trust entitled The Big Cheese Trust (even though I’m just a little cheese). That would be fun. 
Agreed, @BunsenBurner. But none-big cheeses, such as most home owners, probably don’t realize that the value and size of their home is publicly accessible, even if they know about wills and trusts. Around here, you can take your name off the property record but you can’t make it disappear altogether. That means you can still find a residential property by address even if you can’t find it by searching for the owner’s name. I’m guessing that most people don’t take the time to remove their name from the website.
That sounds like a potential mess. Best to get it sorted out now. Good luck.
Sometimes, it is the “people knowledgeable with the transaction” are the ones who spill the beans.
The realtor letters came to my home address in Massachusetts. They didn’t come just because of the obituary. They came because of the probate publication.
Another thing I learned recently is if you hold a vacation home in a trust, that when you die it will avoid mandatory probate. Not sure if this is specific to certain states. You better check me on this.
^^^ Real estate is governed by the law of the state where it is situated, not by the law of the state where the owner lives… so yes, another probate might be necessary.
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/ancillary-probate-probate-another-state.html
My MIL is still alive but we are constantly getting letters and calls from realtors about her house. H is a realtor so we tell anyone that calls that the house is not for sale and, when it is, my H will be used. If they call again, H asks to speak to the broker (it’s usually an agent that calls) and tells them a complaint will be filed with the state if the harassment continues. Letters are just thrown out.
I have told H that I do not want to have a public death notice and I don’t plan to publish one for him, either, although he doesn’t know it!
My brother doesn’t manage his affairs well. But, he has been a great help to my mother (now 94 yo). I think helping him manage his life has been part of what has kept her alive (and 100% mentally alert and she has a PhD). My sister and I suggested that my mother give him an unequal share but to put it in trust. Alas, the trust is not that big, so my mother asked our other sister to be the trustee. Somehow she thinks that I don’t like my brother, which isn’t true. But, I do trust him to make unwise decisions with money and want some brakes on spending the money he might inherit.
In our case, we have done a fair bit of planning and legal work. We have a standard will with spousal bypass trusts etc. I thought the will swept everything into trusts so there was no probate issue, but we did this so long ago that I could be confused. In addition, I also had a dynasty trust created and was able to sell my interest in my business to it (on an arms length basis with valuation by accountants, etc.). The beneficiaries are me and my wife and our kids and if, there is enough money, their progeny. The trustee at the moment is a good friend – especially of my wife’s – who is a an lawyer who stopped working when her husband became very famous and wealthy (she decided she could help the world more by supporting her husband and being an active philanthropist than by suing big companies on behalf of other big companies). There is a protector to safeguard – he could remove her if she were behaving badly. I am financial advisor to the trust. If this trust accumulates enough so that it goes beyond my kids, my kids will need to think about replacement trustees. Reminds me that I need to have the lawyer review the trust to make sure it doesn’t need modification under the new tax laws. [Thanks. I just contacted the lawyer].
Even when the $11 MM exemption gets reduced when the political pendulum swings back, the assets of the trust will be exempt from Federal estate tax. However, I have a pretty large 401k that contains the contents of a defined benefit plan I’d established. That will be in the estate and would be as ordinary income and would still be subject to state estate tax if we haven’t spent it. I will need to think about how to deal with that problem.
I will also replenish 529 Plans to transfer to grandkids should they arrive (first the kids will have to get married – or at least I hope marriage precedes grandkids).
In many states a safe deposit box is locked by the bank upon death of one of the account holders.
Not sure if this is what you are referring to, could it be for inherited IRAs? An IRA (regular or Roth) doesn’t go thru probate to my understanding since it has a beneficiary. However the person or persons who inherit it and are not the spouse of the deceased will have to take required minimum distributions based on their life expectancy. So suppose your last surviving parent dies and you inherit their IRA. If you have children and are in the fortunate situation of not needing the money and wanting it to go to your children, you can decline to accept it (in any state, so far as I know). Assuming your children are contingent beneficiaries or if your share was titled with the words “per stirpes” then your children inherit instead of you.
I’m not an attorney nor qualified to advise on estate planning, just mentioning this for something to look into if interested.
Or just go ahead and take it and use the RMD to take the whole family on a fun vacation every year!
What exactly does one need a safe deposit box for if you don’t own the crown jewels or gold bullion? We’ve never had one nor do my parents.