A will could be made by anyone who is legally competent and at least 18 years of age. The person should be of a sound mind. When a will is being prepared, a testator or the person preparing the will should understand value of his property or estate. He should also be fully aware of the people to whom his belongings will be transferred.
For a will to be valid, it must meet several legal requirements. The laws for validating a will vary from state to state, usually requiring two or more witnesses. The process of determining a will’s validity is called probate, which means to prove or testify.
After the death of a testator, an orderly procedure is needed to assist in the proper transfer of property. A probate helps in ensuring that affairs of the deceased are duly settled. It safeguards the deceased’s estate, and also helps in paying all debts and taxes. It enlists the names of people entitled to the property and the type of assets. The probate has information that helps in distributing property according to the wishes of the testator.
In most cases, a personal representative or an executor is responsible for handling and settling the deceased’s estate. His responsibilities include contacting the heirs and creditors concerning probate proceedings. He determines and pays for state, federal and income taxes. If necessary, the executor may have to sell some part of the property in order to pay pending taxes and expenses.
Probate courts handle issues such as name changes and guardianship proceedings. They handle proving the will, appointing an executor, and settling the estate. When a person applies for probate, he is promising the probate court that he will deal with the estate, as set out in the will and according to law. If he doesn’t follow the proceedings of the will, he may have trouble with the court and with the people who should benefit from the will. When there is no will or there are no executors named in the will or the executors have died, the official form is called a letter of administration.
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Probate Law
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This article gives an outline of the legal requirements involved in the probate process. Probate is the judicial process whereby property of a dead person is transferred according to either the decedent’s will or laws of intestate succession. Once a person dies, probate is to...
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Wills
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Last Will And Testament
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A last will or testament is a document by which a person arranges for the distribution of his or her property and possessions after her death. Family members have the legal rights to property of a person but a person’s will is always respected whether...
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Probate
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Probate is a legal process in which the authenticity of a will is proved; total properties identified, inventoried and appraised; taxes and debts paid; and the remaining properties distributed. The term “probate” is derived from the Latin word “probare”, which means “to prove”. Suppose all...
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Probate Court
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Probate court is the office where all probate issues are handled. The probate court handles all matters of probate, right from admitting the petition for probate until issuing the order for transfer of property to heirs and beneficiaries. In most states probate courts function exclusively....
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How To Avoid Probate
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Probate can take anywhere from a few months to several years. It’s expensive. Court fees and attorney’s fees can come to around 5% of the estate’s value. Hence, it is always better to avoid probate. There are possibilities to do this well within legal limits....
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Probate Records
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All important documents which are used in the probate process are known as probate records. The first category of records relate to personal properties which are to be submitted to the court. The will should state what assets are involved, who are the beneficiaries, who...
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Probate Properties
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In this article, we’ll see as to which properties are probatable (known as ‘probate properties’) and which are not. For this we need to list down all the properties of the dead person [known also as `decedent' or `deceased'] and remove all non-probate assets from...
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Last Will And Testament Laws
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The laws of each state specify conditions for writing a last will and testament. Under old common law there used to be a separate writing disposing of real property (real estate) called ‘testament’, and a separate writing disposing of all other property called ‘will’. Hence...