Probate is the court-supervised process of validating a deceased person’s will. It involves identifying the person’s final assets, paying last debts and distributing property to the proper heirs. And ...

Julia Kagan is a financial/consumer journalist and former senior editor, personal finance, of Investopedia. Ebony Howard is a certified public accountant and a QuickBooks ProAdvisor tax expert. She ...

The need for probate when a spouse dies depends on various factors. If assets were owned jointly, they often pass directly to the surviving spouse without probate. Similarly, assets like life ...

Nothing is certain, it is said, but death and taxes. Yet, many Americans know surprisingly little about the legal process that follows a loved one’s death. A new report, titled The State of Probate in ...

Christy Bieber has a JD from UCLA School of Law and began her career as a college instructor and textbook author. She has been writing full time for over a decade with a focus on making financial and ...

Most people have the wrong idea about probate, and don't fear it enough to do something to avoid it My mom died just over a year ago, and I'm still knee-deep in probate. I'm barely average. The ...

Probate can be a lengthy and complex process, leaving executors eager to find ways to expedite it. Familiarizing yourself with the legal procedures and documentation required to settle an estate ...

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, ...

We created him.) “I went through it when my father died, and my family spent the next year talking to lawyers, trying to get ...

Probate is the legal process for distributing your property after you die. Many, or all, of the products featured on this page are from our advertising partners who compensate us when you take certain ...

My mom died just over a year ago, and I’m still knee-deep in probate. I’m barely average. The typical probate process to settle a will or the estate of somebody who dies without one takes 20 months, ...