What Is Probate? When Must An Estate Go Through Probate?
When a close relative or friend dies there are several important legal and taxation matters to be addressed. If the deceased person has a certain amount of property, you may need to initiate Probate proceedings.
Probate is the process whereby a Court supervises the transfer of assets from the deceased person to his or her heirs. Probate requires the filing of particularized and complicated legal forms and the entire process is supervised by the Probate Department of the California Superior Court in the County in which the decedent resided at the time of death.
What Do I Do Now?
First, determine if the estate in question is one which is subject to probate. Probate is likely appropriate where one or more of the following circumstances exists:
- The Decedent died with a bank or brokerage account held solely in their name, with a value in excess of $100,000;
- The Decedent owned real property held solely in their name;
- The Decedent owned a life insurance policy with a death benefit in excess of $100,000, where no beneficiary was named, or where the named beneficiary predeceased the Decedent;
- The Decedent owned an IRA (or other retirement related account) valued in excess of $100,000, where no beneficiary was named, or where the named beneficiary predeceased the Decedent
We invite you to review the information found here on our Website. It will help you gain an understanding of the Probate process, giving you a better understanding of the legal needs you may have at this time.
We invite you to contact us so that we can answer all your questions. The cost of Probate can be high, diminishing the estates assets. The Court will award ordinary statutory fees, and, in certain instances, can also award fees for extraordinary services such as those incurred for selling real property, for locating beneficiaries, or for the preparation of estate tax returns. The issues presented can be overwhelming and the process itself challenging, creating undue stress, surprise and anxiety. Our professionals not only have the sophistication and experience when it comes to navigating these channels, but the compassion, understanding and reliability you should expect from an advocate representing your interests. Our commitment is to work as quickly as possible, meeting our goals and objectives in a worry free fashion, with the utmost in accountability.
