Losing a loved one can be an extremely difficult experience. In some situations after your loved one passes, their next of kin is called upon to supervise the estate of the deceased. After the funeral takes place, the individual charged with handling the estate of the deceased has to first find the assets and gather them together within the confines of the estate. Thereafter he or she must pay creditors and authenticate who the beneficiaries to the estate are. If the decedent wrote a will, the process begins by probating the will.
The Probate Process
The first step in the probate process is to locate the original Will and file the Will with the Surrogate’s Court located in the county where the decedent resided before his or her death. In addition to filing the Will, a probate petition must accompany the Will. If the court accepts the probate petition, the case will be placed on the court’s calendar. The beneficiaries and next of kin will need to receive notice of this upcoming court date. On the return date of the probate petition, if there are no challenges to the will, the court will render a decision authorizing the executor named in the Will to be appointed to fulfill the terms and functions of the Will. The executor will determine the assets of the estate and gather them together. These assets may involve selling real estate, liquidating bank accounts, stocks, bonds and mutual funds, and various other types of assets. If there are expenses related to the decedent’s final illness, these expenses must be paid. Tax returns for the year in which the decedent died must be filed and if taxes are due, they must be paid. If the estate is a large estate, there may be estate taxes due and owing. At the end of the probate process the executor must prepare an accounting of the assets received, the payments which have been made to creditors, and lay out the scheme for the payment of the balance of the funds of the estate to the beneficiaries named in the Will.
No Will Causes Administration Proceedings
Administration proceedings are similar to probate proceedings, however they are a bit more complicated. Since no one has been named by the decedent to handle his or her estate, the next of kin and/or other family members may approach the court and seek to be named the administrator of the estate. This sometimes causes disputes among those individuals who seek to control and administrate the decedent’s estate.
In both probate and administration proceedings, family members who don’t feel they received their fair share of the estate sometimes come forward and challenge the estate proceeding.
Dealing with Estate Issues
I would not recommend an executor or administrator try to handle either the probate of a Will or the administration of an estate without the guidance and legal representation by an experienced estates attorney. If the administrator or executor makes a mistake, he or she can be personally liable for financial damages. The cost of hiring an attorney to represent the estate are paid by the assets in the estate, not by the funds belonging to the administrator or executor.
