Due to COVID-19 we are still seeing clients in person and social distancing is required
I recently met with a potential client who wanted to leave his entire estate to a friend. When I asked him why he didn’t want to leave it to his sister, his closest living relative, he said that his intention was to leave it to the friend so that the friend could give it to the sister. I advised him strongly against it.
Probate is a proceeding wherein the court appoints someone to take over the estate of someone who has died. That appointee, with the help of the court and usually an attorney, marshals that person’s assets, settles or litigates any legal issues, pays creditors such as the government, makes one or more suitable accounts and reports and, finally, petitions the court for permission to distribute that money and property to the appropriate persons.
There is no deadline as such. In cases where there is litigation or sale of estate property, an estate might go on for decades.