Probate and Estate Administration lawyers navigate the legal process with wills and estate matters of a deceased person. They will:

  • become court appointed executors should there be a dispute in inheritance
  • help to resolve discrepancies in an estate after death
  • oversee the inheritance process
  • attend to tax matters
  • work to resolve claims from creditors, beneficiaries and heirs
  • act as the executor of an estate if one hasn’t been named, and work in conjunction with a court of law
  • work to carry out in legal conscience the actions and requests of a will

Services

The Probate process is involved, and can take several months. This is primarily because:

  • Creditors need to be notified and legal notices published.
  • Executors of the will need to be guided in how and when to distribute assets.
  • A Petition to appoint a personal representative may need to be filed and letters of administration obtained.
  • Homestead property, which follows its own set of unique rules in states like Florida, must be dealt with separately from other assets.
  • There are time factors involved in filing and objecting to claims against the estate. A lawsuit  may be pending over the decedent’s death. Separate procedures may be required in contentious probate cases.
  • Real estate or other property may need to be sold to effect correct distribution of assets pursuant to the will or merely to pay debts.
  • Estate taxes, gift taxes or inheritance taxes must be considered if the estate exceeds certain thresholds.
  • Costs of the administration, including ordinary taxation such as income tax on interest and property taxation, will be deducted from assets in the estate before distribution by the executors of the will.
  • Other assets may simply need to be transferred from the deceased to his or her beneficiaries.

Specialization

If you are the executor of a loved ones’ estate, and you have questions or conflicts with the heirs of the estate, you are best suited to seek out a Probate or Estate Administration Attorney.

There are two types of Probate and/or Estate Administration Lawyers:

  • Transactional – those that handle the administration of the estate
  • Probate Litigators – those that handle the clients and act in proxy of the deceased

Some lawyers do both, but most will tend to do one or the other.

Look for a member in good standing of one or both of the Governing Associations:

  • American Association of Estate Planning Attorneys
  • American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys

Preparation

  • If no executor is established, have proper knowledge of the will and estate to answer questions on all financial holdings and investments of the deceased.
  • Have proper documentation in order to present to the attorney.
  • Understand the desired outcome which you are seeking.

Evaluation

  • Research the attorney’s experience in the are of concern.
  • Request a paralegal to remain familiar with your case for communication purposes.
  • Ask for several references to determine:
  • Was the level of communication satisfactory?
  • Was the desired outcome positive?
  • Would you hire this person again?

Estate Admin Probate Law Radio Show Segments

  • Everything You Need to Know About Probate

    Probate is a court process to retitle assets. Probate is designed to create a “final accounting” upon death. It is the legal process of “proving up” a Will, or verifying that a Will is valid, takes place in one of two instances. First, if a person dies leaving behind a Will, or second, if the deceased has died intestate, that is, has not left behind a Will or estate plan of any type or the Will cannot be found. Estate planning attorney Steve Waltar with Legacy Estate Planning joins Suzanne to give us a primer on probate.

    Steve says, “Probate is a Latin term that means ‘to prove,’ and it’s essentially to prove who died and prove what their assets are. So, it’s this court process to retitle things. Probate is not caused because you have a will, and it’s not caused because you don’t have a will. It’s really caused because there are things that need re-titling.”

  • Real Estate After a Senior Passes

    Real Estate 55 Plus provides a spectrum of services for seniors. Real Estate 55 Plus CEO Juli Anne Gibson joins Suzanne to talk about what typically happens when a senior loved one passes and leaves a house in probate.

    “When we’re gonna go into the home, I would say 25% of the time the personal representative or the executor doesn’t live in the state or the city where the property is at. They may have never even have seen it depending on the circumstances. So we’re going to come in and do an evaluation on the home, and we’re going to give a comparative market analysis that says what the home value is worth.

    “And we’re gonna provide up to four options for the executor for the estate, with the first one being selling the home off market. People say, well, why would you do that? Well, typically in a seller’s market, sellers aren’t gonna take that option and we would typically recommend not for an executor to do executor to do that. But if we’re in a buyer’s market or the property has a lot of deferred maintenance, it may be the best option for the estate.

    “Option number two would be do a pre-inspection on a home and disclose the issues, but don’t do any work. And option three could be, do a pre-inspection and do some work so you’re gonna increase the net proceeds. And number four would be to do a full remodel. So we give those options to the executor.

    “Typically, the decisions are made based on how much we return on investment and time. Those are the two big, you know, indicators I think for the person that’s going through that process and making decisions. If there are multiple beneficiaries, there’s a lot of family dynamics. So we not only work on the real estate, we not only work on the real estate side, but we’re the, we’re the, we’re the problem solvers. We’re coming in and we’re, we’re working with the executor honoring the deceased person’s wishes. And, you know, we don’t know the family dynamics and they share those with us. So we want to be really sensitive to everybody else that’s part of the process.”

    You can reach Juli Anne Gibson at (800) 964-1553 or https://realestate55plus.com/.

    Learn more:
    * Real Estate 55 Plus: https://realestate55plus.com/
    * Juli Anne Gibson: https://realestate55plus.com/team/
    * Call 800-964-1553 to speak to a live person

    Hear more shows with Juli Anne Gibson: https://answersforelders.com/tag/juli-anne-gibson/

    Answers for Elders is part of the SeniorResource Network: https://www.seniorresource.com/
    Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks: https://alzheimersspeaks.com/

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