Probate is the legal process of administering a Decedent’s Last Will & Testament (“Will”), whereby assets owned by the Decedent at death are distributed pursuant to the terms of their Will, or if ...

A probate judge is an official of the county court system and a judicial official of the state who decides civil court cases that involve the probate process. Probate is the process of proving wills ...

Have you ever wondered why settling an estate can take months, or even years, even when there is a clear will and no disputes among beneficiaries? Many people expect probate to be a straightforward ...

Learn what constitutes an estate, the essentials of estate planning, and how to draft your will to effectively manage asset ...

Probate gets a bad name based on the relatively few estates that go through ugly and sometimes years-long will contests in probate courts. The article about Aubrey McClendon’s estate says that probate ...

Debt collectors have a limited time to make claims against an estate, so it's important to know that firm deadline.

This is the third installment of my seven-part series on major estate planning mistakes. The first two are here and here. Not avoiding probate. When an asset passes to others through a will, it has to ...

Creditors can pursue certain estate assets, but many others may be protected or pass directly to beneficiaries.

One of the most effective tools in the estate planning process is a trust, which can offer significant advantages-including the ability to bypass the often lengthy and costly probate process. Trusts, ...