Preventing Probate By Establishing an Estate Plan

Rarely does anyone actually want their assets to go through probate, as it is a time-consuming, frustrating, and expensive process. Probate will be necessary if someone passes away without a will or estate plan documentation. Executors of the estate and beneficiaries may feel unsure about the process of probate to come and can consult with a lawyer for support and to have questions answered. A brief introduction to what probate is and what to do have been explained below:

Probate can be best described as a court-supervised process of distributing, managing, and gathering assets of someone who has died to those who are meant to inherit them. The laws for probate differ by state, so someone who has assets in several states will need separate proceedings for each location.

Not everything a person owned before passing away will go through probate. In deciding whether probate is appropriate, you have to first assess which of the decedent’s assets is subject to the process. While probate can be useful, is it a public proceeding, so those who want their loved ones to grieve in private can do so by leaving behind a legally valid will or other estate plan documents.

Probate can put heirs at a disadvantage if they are in need of their inheritance right away. Probate can cause beneficiaries to wait months, or even up to a year or longer before receiving assets. This can add more difficulty to a period of grief that is already overwhelming. As the probate attorneys can attest, most people would prefer the court to not be in charge of their assets after passing on, and decide to establish an estate plan as a way to prevent probate.