What You Need To Know About Probate

By Author: Nicole Anderson
Total Articles: 50
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Probate is an important legal process that is executed after the death of a person. During the process, the assets that are hold by the deceased are transferred to the beneficiaries. In case a person has debts, these assets are transferred to the creditors as well for clearing off the debts. Sometimes, there may be a will written by the deceased in which an executor will be nominated. If there is one such executor, then the probate process will be carried out under his supervision. It is not necessary that the executor must be a relative to the person who is dead. The executor can get the help of a lawyer and the cost shall be paid be the estate of the departed.

The departed person would not have left any will and consequently there would be no executor. In such cases, probate court will appoint a person called administrator for carrying out the probate process. This administrator will be a person close to the deceased and the one who is responsible for claiming a bulk of the estate.

The executor or the administrator has to justify the validity of the will in the probate court. The witnesses have to provide an ...
... oath declaring that the will is valid. Then all information about the property and debts of departed and beneficiaries should be submitted to the court. The creditors will be notified of the death of departed person and they will be given six months to collect their debts. The creditors are restricted to collect the money from estate and they should not demand the beneficiaries.

If debts cannot be paid fully from the estate, then the available assets will be used by the court to solve the problem. Sometimes the deceased person may not leave any will that shares the assets among the beneficiaries. In such cases, the laws of the state will determine probate proceedings. All heirs and beneficiaries will be notified of proceedings and the court will start probate process. Sometimes, probate process may not be required and the assets will be divided among the beneficiaries without intervention of court.