Probate is a court proceeding used to transfer ownership of a deceased person’s (decedent’s) assets to his or her heirs, after paying any outstanding debts of the decedent. There are many different kinds of probate proceedings. Whether a decedent dies intestate (without a valid will) or testate (with a valid will) will determine which proceeding is needed. In addition, distribution of the decedent’s estate can be supervised or unsupervised by the Court depending upon the complexity of the estate or whether the heirs are at odds over how the estate should be distributed. Also, the proceeding can be an informal process if the estate is small and there is no real estate involved, or it can be formal if there is real estate involved.
Contact Tuft, Lach, Jerabek, & O’Connell, PLLC at (651) 771-0050 or info@tuftlaw.com to schedule a consultation with Letty Van Ert, our experienced estate planning and probate attorney.
