Probate

Losing a loved one is hard enough without adding court dates and legal stress. If you’ve ever dealt with probate, you know how frustrating and drawn-out it can be. The paperwork, delays and costs often come at the worst possible time. In New York, probate is the court process that handles a person’s estate after ...

Estate administration comes with many responsibilities. The personal representative could easily spend a year or even longer carrying out their responsibilities and fulfilling the last wishes of the deceased individual. Some of those responsibilities are more important than others. Mistakes can lead to personal liability for the representative and attempts to remove them from their ...

There are many complicated matters that families need to address during probate proceedings in New York. The probate process begins by notifying the courts of someone’s passing and empowering a personal representative to administer the estate. That personal representative manages the entire probate process. The assets that once belonged to the decedent become the property ...

An individual’s estate plan determines their legacy and can have a major influence on how other people remember them. The resources that they leave for other people and charitable causes can have a lasting impact on the world, and the instructions that they provide regarding the care of their dependent loved ones can better ensure ...

When drafting your will, you will appoint an executor. This party will ensure your wishes are fulfilled in addition to other duties. So, should you tell someone you named them as your will executor? Yes, you should consider doing so. Here is why you should tell them: They need to obtain the needed knowledge Executor ...

Selecting your executor is absolutely essential. That person will handle many vital responsibilities after your death. These include making sure that your assets go to the people you designated, taking care of your taxes, bills and debts and informing your bank of your passing.  It’s a project you don’t want to casually assign to just ...

Most estates will have to go through probate in New York, but if you have a small estate, the process may look a little different. According to the New York State Bar Association, if you have a small estate, it will go through a voluntary administration instead of probate. Small estate designation You have a ...

Whether you are in the early stages of setting up an estate plan, a beneficiary in your loved one’s estate plan or in charge of an estate, it is vital to go over various legal issues related to the probate process. Sometimes, people avoid probate altogether by carefully crafting their estate plan. On the other ...

When a person passes away, their property must typically pass through probate. Probate is the process the state uses to legally assign a person’s property to their beneficiaries, and it can take many months to complete. In some cases, the legal and maintenance costs of the process drains value out of the property, so it ...