Stepping into the role of “Personal Representative” to handle your loved one’s will or intestate probate estate can be an overwhelming experience. We have decades of experience helping individual and institutional administrators and executors fulfill all their duties efficiently and cost-effectively, and representing executors, administrators, heirs, beneficiaries, spouses, and creditors in probate disputes. Schedule a consultation to see how we can help you.
A trustee is an individual who administers a trust on behalf of the beneficiaries. Trustees are responsible for managing trust assets, including maintaining the property and making sure it is productive – i.e. generates income or profit. However, a trustee’s job can be challenging and downright impossible if they don’t have the skills or expertise needed to perform these tasks competently. If a trustee does not fulfill their duties as required by law, they may need to be suspended or removed from their position.
There are three primary types of lawyers who work with estate law: probate lawyers, estate lawyers, and probate litigation lawyers. While they both work in the same area of law, probate lawyers handle the probate process after an individual passes away, while estate lawyers help living clients set up wills, trusts, or other estate planning documents before their death. And probate litigation lawyers handle the disputes that arise from the creation or administration of an estate.
Sibling inheritance laws and rights are clearly defined by probate code intestacy laws. If an individual dies without a will, their surviving spouse, domestic partner, and children are given an inheritance priority. If there are no surviving spouse, domestic partner, nor children, then their surviving parents are next in line. Surviving siblings inherit assets only if there are no surviving spouse, domestic partner, children, grandchildren, nor parents.
Probate is the legal process used to distribute property and assets following someone’s death. Probate involves many different players — family members, friends, loved ones, attorneys, executors of wills — all coming together for one common goal: to settle this person’s affairs according to their wishes and ensure they’ve left no loose ends behind. Probate can be complicated, so it’s imperative that you seek out qualified legal counsel before taking any action.
There are four basic stages of probate. Each step in the process is detailed in the sections below.
Probate begins when a petition to open probate is filed with the Superior Court in the county where the deceased person resided. Once the petition has been received, the court will set a hearing date. All interested persons (the personal representative, heirs, beneficiaries named in the will, and creditors) will receive notice of the date and time of the hearing.
At the first hearing, the court will appoint the estate’s personal representative, unless their appointment is contested. If the deceased person left a will that identified a specific person as their executor, the court must approve and finalize the appointment. If the court does not approve or if the individual does not want to serve as the executor, the court may need to appoint someone else. Once a personal representative is accepted, the court will issue Letters Testamentary, which is a legal document that allows the executor to access estate assets and otherwise administer the estate.
After the personal representative receives Letters Testamentary, they are responsible for collecting all of the deceased personal assets that are subject to probate. The executor will then be required to submit an inventory of the estate property to the court.
Once the assets have been inventoried, the personal representative must provide notice of the death to all of the deceased’s creditors. Creditors with outstanding debts can submit claims and receive payment from the inventoried assets. Under California law, creditors must submit claims within four months of the executor’s appointment.
The personal representative must also ensure that state and federal estate taxes are paid before distributing any assets to heirs.
After the personal representative has completed all of their responsibilities, they will file a Petition for Final Distribution with the court, which will require a later hearing to be held. At this hearing, the personal representative will provide a detailed accounting regarding the use of estate assets. The judge will review this information to ensure all of the legal requirements were met. Once the judge determines that the estate has been appropriately administered, they will sign the Petition for Final Distribution and close the estate.
Probate is neither good nor bad, but there are situations where avoiding probate may be beneficial.
Probate can be an expensive time-suck. The proceedings are also part of the public record, including your will. To avoid the costs and time associated with probate and protect their privacy, some people develop estate plans that allow their assets to pass to their loved ones without going through the probate process.
Some common methods for avoiding probate include:
You may also be able to bypass the formal probate process when the estate assets qualify for a small estate administration. However, there are some situations where formal probate proceedings can be beneficial, so you should always consult with a probate lawyer to determine the best course of action.
We represent individual trustees, professional private fiduciaries, and trust companies understand and execute their duties and responsibilities as trustee, including explaining trust documents and interplay with trust amendments and restatements, assisting with marshaling, inventorying and appraising assets, investigating and responding to creditor claims, preparing accountings, coordinating with tax and other professionals, determining distributions to trust beneficiaries, and seeking judicial approval of trustee acts or omissions, where necessary, so your trust administration is efficient and cost-effective, and so you are protected.
Discovering that you have been named executor of a will or that you need to get appointed administrator of a probate estate, especially while dealing with the loss of a loved one, can be overwhelming. We have the expertise to guide you through the appointment process, handling all of the paperwork and probate hearings so you don’t have to, walking you through your duties and responsibilities, preparing accountings, coordinating with tax and other professionals, and responding to beneficiaries so your estate and probate administration is worry free, cost-effective, and efficient.
Whether you are an heir, a trust beneficiary, a will beneficiary involved in a probate, or the beneficiary of a bank account, a pension, a 401k or other retirement account, or a life insurance policy, we have the experience to advise you of your rights, what you can expect, when you can expect it, and help guide you through your trust, estate or probate administration, to fight to get what’s yours if you are involved in a trust, estate or probate litigation, and to protect you from abuse by fiduciaries, beneficiaries, and others, including protecting you or your loved ones from financial elder abuse.
Creditors are people, businesses, or anyone else to whom a decedent owed money at the time of death. Most states probate laws require that creditors act within a limited amount of time after a debtor passes to assert their claims, and if they fail to act within that time or fail to follow the specific procedures and methods prescribed by state probate law, their claims may be time-barred and lost forever. These rules apply similarly when litigation is pending against a defendant who dies during a case. If you are owed money by someone who passed, we can help you recover it.
A conservatorship is a process by which a court appoints someone to care for you or your loved one when you or they are unable to provide self-care for their health needs (conservator of the person) or self-manage finances (conservator of the estate), including resisting undue influence and becoming a victim of financial elder abuse. If you think you or a loved needs help or has been or may become the victim of abuse, or if someone is seeking to establish an unnecessary conservatorship for you or a loved one, we can help prosecute or defend your conservatorship.
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