Avoiding the eventuality of probate court can be as simple as anything else in life, but first, one must take the steps necessary in making sense of the whole situation. That would start with research in the appropriate fields, using either the internet or library sources that can easily eliminate most of the hassles maintaining the ignorant opinion, and hopefully dispel a few of those myths that could creep in to make practical wisdom seem useless. Firstly, what is a probate court, but a specialized court for the handling of estates and redistribution of assets to creditors and anyone else that disputes an estate.
Avoiding probate at all is fairly easy to do with the amount of options to choose from, wills and trusts can provide some of the most secure means to bypassing any inconsiderate damage to the assets and belongings that would merit feelings of worth and value, and it is best to take stock of these things earlier than later on when there might already be a debilitating illness or problem. Focusing accurately might be more problematic then as well, and finding the best power of attorney to speak on behalf of the person would be equally at risk too late in life. Trust administration is best done with only a handful of people involved; an executor, a lawyer, and any trustees that that all parties may feel worthy.
In matters where the wishes seem to contest one another, a probate court will step in to arbitrate between parties, but there are no exorbitant fees or time wasted if there is a valid documentation of stipulations left behind. In such many of the cases as those, the shaping factors can be merely determining who receives the deceased’s belongings afterwards, and jurisdiction when it comes to the legal field of particulars such as elder law or the laws governing a person’s trust administration. With wills, and most specifically trusts, there can be tracts in writing that allow for some or all assets of an estate to be safeguarded for being touched by a probate court.
One has to be prepared for the eventualities that may occur even if fully ready to take on their own trust administration, but sometimes the surrogate court or probate court is to whom one would go to petition for an estate by interested parties, like when a beneficiary feels that an estate is being mishandled. The probate court can compel the authority to make the executor of the assets make an official account of their actions. Probate courts may also intercede with more complex issues such as custody and cases of name changes, marriages or adoptions where the jurisdiction of a family court does not apply.
Paul A. Kraft, Estate Planning Attorney
Mr. Kraft assists clients primarily in the areas of estate planning and administration, Medicaid planning, federal and state taxation, real estate and corporate law, bringing the added perspective of an accounting background to his work.
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