What is Probate?
Probate is the process by which the person named as executor of a decedent’s Will submits the original Will (along with a death certificate and petition) to the Register of Wills for his appointment as executor of the decedent’s estate. If the will has been duly proved (witnessed and notarized) and there is no contest with respect to the validity of the will (see “Will Contest” below), the Register of Wills will issue Letters Testamentary to the named executor.
Probate is a court-supervised legal procedure that winds up a person’s legal and financial affairs after death and distributes a person’s estate either according to your will or intestacy laws (if there is no will). As a verb, “probate” is also used to mean the process of settling an estate. In this sense, probate means the process by which assets are gathered, applied to pay debts, taxes and expenses of administration, and distributed to those designated as beneficiaries in the will. The executor or personal representative named in the will is in charge of this process, and probate provides an orderly method for administration of the estate. The executor is held accountable by the beneficiaries (and sometimes is supervised formally by a probate court). The executor is entitled to a reasonable fee or commission. Tax laws generally focus the responsibility for death tax filings and payments on the executor under a will. Thus, the choice of an executor is an important one. Probate procee
Probate is a legal process that takes place after someone dies. It includes: proving in court that a deceased person’s will is valid (usually a routine matter) identifying and inventorying the deceased person’s property having the property appraised paying debts and taxes, and distributing the remaining property as the will directs. Typically, probate involves paperwork and court appearances by lawyers. The lawyers and court fees are paid from estate property, which would otherwise go to the people who inherit the deceased person’s property. Probate usually works like this: After your death, the person you named in your will as executor — or, if you die without a will, the person appointed by a judge — files papers in the local probate court. The executor proves the validity of your will and presents the court with lists of your property, your debts, and who is to inherit what you’ve left. Then, relatives and creditors are officially notified of your death. Your executor must find, s
“Probate” is simply the process under Oregon law by which title to an individual s property is transferred to his/her heirs and devisees. The first step is for the personal representative nominated under the will (often called the executor in other states) to file a petition with the court seeking appointment as personal representative and to have the will “admitted” to probate. Once the order admitting the will to probate and appointing the personal representative is signed by the court, so called “Letters Testamentary” are then issued showing that the personal representative has the legal authority to gather estate assets, pay creditors and file all estate and income tax returns. As part of the probate process, notice is given to all known creditors and published in a newspaper of general circulation. This notice and publication triggers a four-month statute of limitation period for all creditors to submit claims to the personal representative. Claims submitted after the four-month p
” It is a term used when a will is filed with the court, is in the proper form, and the Probate Court accepts it as the proper will of the deceased. Some folks have the idea that the word refers to a long, drawn out process, but that is not really the case. How do you get a will probated? If the will is properly done with all the necessary signatures and containing all of the language required by the particular State, probate is a simple matter of filling out a form, getting the proper signatures, and taking the documents over to the Probate Court. What happens at the Probate Court? If everything is in proper form and the interested parties have signed, the court accepts the will as being the will of the deceased, and the personal representative takes an oath. That is all there is to it. The will is then probated. How long does this take? Seriously, a proper will can be probated in a few minutes. There is no significant delay at all. Delays arise when the will was not done properly, or
