Probate refers to the court-supervised process of administering a decedent’s estate. It is often a costly and time-consuming business, which can frustrate heirs and beneficiaries as they wait to receive their inheritances. However, small estates may take advantage of streamlined processes that facilitate property transfers much more efficiently than traditional probate.

Many people pass away while owning assets in multiple states. Unfortunately, this can complicate the estate administration process for executors, who must open probate cases where a decedent left assets in each state. Executors should familiarize themselves with probating out-of-state assets to ensure a smooth estate administration. 

Understanding...

An executor is the individual or entity tasked with administering a deceased party’s estate as directed by his or her will. An executor’s duties include settling the estate’s debts, selling estate property, and distributing the estate’s assets to heirs and beneficiaries according to the decedent’s will. In this article, we discuss how...

After experiencing the death of a loved one, you may feel extremely overwhelmed without any sense of what to do next. That’s why it’s so important to have a list of steps that can help you to take care of the legal and financial matters of their estate. Here’s what to do for your...

While some think that personal property encompasses all property aside from real property, that’s not always true. In California the court will look at the specific language within a document and at times other evidence in order to determine the testator’s intent – exactly what property they intended to gift. The best thing that you...

The purpose of estate administration is to ensure that one’s real and personal property is properly distributed after they have passed away. This process to administer the estate is known as probate and is overseen by a probate court. So who administers the estate? An estate representative is responsible and may be named...

When someone dies, their will must pass the legal process called probate. While probate can be helpful in ensuring that the will is verified and properly carried out, it doesn’t always account for what is supposed to happen to certain property, namely, surviving spouses. According to California law, property may pass to a surviving...

The loss of a parent can prove all-encompassing. When you are processing the loss of your mother or father it can be an extremely emotional time. While you are trying to move forward, the last thing you likely want to have to worry about is what is supposed to happen to their estate and...

We all know that it is important to have a will. Whether it’s because we don’t want to think about our own mortality, we don’t have the money, or we just flat out don’t get around to it, sometimes people die without a will. When someone dies without a will, it is called intestate....

Losing a loved one can be hard. But when you add in having to deal with their estate it can get extremely difficult and often overwhelming – especially if it goes to probate. Probate is the settling of an individual’s estate by a court-appointed executor. Although it can be simpler if the estate fits...