What Is A Probate Lawyer & What Are Its Roles?
A probate lawyer (estate attorney) handles the process of estate administration after the death of a person. They even act as administrators of your estate if the person who died has no one to designate.
An estate planning lawyer works with living clients to draft wills, trusts, and power of attorney. They help them to deal with the processing of probate, which includes paying debts of the deceased and distributing estate assets as the will states.
How A Probate Lawyer Is Different From An Estate Planning Lawyer?
Despite the fact they both deal in similar areas of estate planning, one major difference that sets them apart is as follows:
- A probate lawyer manages the processing of estate administration after the death of a person and serves as an envoy for the property which has no person to claim it.
- Whereas, an estate planning lawyer (attorney) drafts wills and powers of attorney, helps plan management of elder care, and guides the client to reduce their inherent property taxes.
A Probate Lawyer may work as both a probate lawyer and an estate planning lawyer or even work as a specialist in one.
What Is The Actual Work Of A Probate Lawyer?
There is a gamut of tasks a probate lawyer does, but their actual work concerns their client’s needs, regardless the deceased had made a will or not, complexities associated with the estate, are there legal disputes between debtors or property claimers, and other major issues with the property.
How Probate Lawyers Proceed Further
· If The Deceased Left With A Will
When the deceased person made a valid will or authorized testament before his death, in such a situation probate lawyers are hired to help the executor with the further legal processes, as per the statement of the legal will.
And if there are issues with the will, the beneficiary or the claimer claims the will to be invalid and believes it to be made under pressure or someone’s influence, then the probate lawyer represents the beneficiary in legal proceedings, and in some cases one contests to being left out of the will.
But mostly, the majority of the wills complete the probate process without facing any challenges.
· If The Deceased Left Without A Will
When the deceased is left without signing a valid legal will, such deaths are known as “intestate”. In such cases, the inheritance laws of the concerned state determine the inheritance.
For example, if the spouse of the dead person is alive, he/she will inherit half or all of his property, based on what the inheritance laws of that particular state allow.
The most important the thing to keep in mind is that both the estate planning lawyer and probate lawyer are confined to distributing the property as per the state’s intestate inheritance laws. No matter, what the dead person has said or promised his family members when he was alive or if his family members need money, only state laws have the power to decide the distribution of property assets.
Services A Probate Lawyer Provides
Various law firms specialize in dealing with probate cases and these are a few of the services they provide.
- Help find descendants’ possessions and safeguard their property (savings account, personal possessions, vehicles, houses, etc.)
- Identify life insurance/health insurance policies.
- Handle the real estate’s checkbook
- Keeps safe the appraisals of descendant’s assets.
- Prepares dead persons’ income tax files and property tax return files by securing the tax account with an in-house account.
- Determines validity of debts, if any, exist.
- Advises on how the payment of taxes should be made.
- Prepare files and documents required for the probate process.
How you can find a probate lawyer and tips to follow while hiring one.
If you are looking for a probate lawyer then make sure to ask these questions before finalizing one.
- Does he specialize in probate law and have prior experience in handling such cases?
- What services does he provide?
- Will the lawyer personally handle your case?
- What are his charges?
- What is the overall procedure of a specific case?
If you have a yes as an answer to all of your questions and are satisfied with their answers, then you must proceed to hire them and can even rely on them for future needs if any such case occurs.
Apart from these, always make sure to speak to a licensed lawyer for help with a problem excess. Talking or taking the advice of an expert probate lawyer will help you ease the problems associated with your estate smoothly.
