Did A Loved One Die Recently? Time Is Of The Essence
Death of a loved one is a challenge, not only because a person close to you passed away, but also because they left behind belongings that must be dealt with.
It’s extremely important to contact an attorney as soon as possible after the death of a loved one – ideally, within a few months. A deceased person’s estate must comply with numerous deadlines (some as short as 30 days), and missing any of these deadlines may result in terrible consequences, from criminal penalties to loss of thousands, and sometimes even millions, of dollars.
What happens to the estate after one’s death?
Here is a brief overview of what happens In both probate (no trust) and trust administration situations:
- A person in charge of the estate is appointed (trustee if there’s a trust, and executor if there’s probate)
- The person in charge gathers all the assets
- The person in charge gathers all the liabilities
- The person in charge settles the liabilities
- The person in charge distributes the remaining assets to beneficiaries, and closes the estate
For assets that are part of a trust, the above steps are performed as a part of trust administration, which is done in the privacy of an attorney’s office, and paid for hourly, to the attorney.
Assets not part of the trust may be subject to probate process in probate court. In probate, the process outlined above is performed with court’s supervision, and paid for according to a schedule set by law. Typically, probate costs tens of thousands of dollars more than trust administration. Use our probate calculator to estimate the attorney and executor fees should you need to probate the decedent’s estate.
How Should You Proceed?
If a loved one died recently, you must deal with the estate they left behind. We can help.
Set up a free consultation today