Probate is the legal process of presenting your Will to the Court after your death to authenticate it, appoint your Executor (or Personal Representative), and then have the Executor collect your assets, report to the Court, and then distribute the assets as instructed. Your Executor must be appointed by the Court in order to collect and distribute your assets. Because probate is a legal process, many steps must be followed before your assets can be distributed.
The facts…
Even if you nominated someone to be your Executor, that person must apply to be appointed and give notice to everyone who may be entitled to receive.
Someone who is or may be entitled to receive may choose to contest the Will.
If a beneficiary is under age 18, the Court will need to appoint a separate attorney to represent them. The same is true if any of your heirs are legally incapacitated, such as a mentally disabled child or a spouse with Alzheimers.
After your Executor is appointed, estate administration begins. The first step is to accumulate the assets and report to the Court how he or she intends to distribute them. Another step is publishing notice to creditors. This will take at least 90 days, and possibly much longer.
Probate is unpredictable. That’s why many people chose to avoid it, but if all of your heirs agree and your assets are centralized, it can go smoothly.
