They know what you want. One of the best benefits of creating an estate plan is sitting down to make choices that you know can benefit your family after you die. The choices you will have to make go far beyond deciding on inheritances, and will also include such topics as making medical decisions and choices about the kind of legacy you want to leave behind. If you don’t make such choices, you can often cause your family significant hardship by forcing them to try to determine what you would … [Read more...] about How Your Family Benefits From Your Estate Plan
Probate
New York Probate Inventory: 3 Questions
Question 1: What is a probate inventory? When you serve as an executor or personal representative of an estate in New York, it is your job to perform a number of tasks. One of these tasks is to find out exactly what the decedent owned at the time of death and create a comprehensive list, known as an inventory. The inventory lists each individual piece of property, such as real estate, stocks, bank accounts, as well as debts. Question 2: Do I have to include the value? Yes. New York … [Read more...] about New York Probate Inventory: 3 Questions
3 Questions About Living Probate
Question 1. What is the difference between living probate and regular probate? New York courts are responsible for hearing cases that involve a number of different legal issues. Many probate cases involve the property left behind after someone has died, while other cases involve issues about people who are still alive. It’s these cases where someone is still alive but needs the court to intervene that are generally referred to as “living” probate cases. Question 2. What happens in a living … [Read more...] about 3 Questions About Living Probate
Knowing Your Duties as Executor
If you have agreed to serve as the executor over someone’s estate, there are numerous duties you will have to perform. While each state has its own probate laws that direct how executors must act, here are several of the main duties that you are likely to encounter as you go about the probate process. Collect the assets. The estate settlement process is all about getting a deceased person’s property to new owners. To begin this process you will have to account for every piece of property … [Read more...] about Knowing Your Duties as Executor
Widow Can’t Access Deceased Husband’s Savings Account
A story out of Jacksonville, Florida highlights some of the problems that can occur if you don’t take the time to adequately address estate planning issues. Julia Bolena, a widow who would have been married to her husband for 53 years, recently tried to access her deceased husband’s Wells Fargo savings account. Even though she and her husband had been married for half a century and she was listed as a joint account holder on her deceased husband’s checking account, the bank prevented her from … [Read more...] about Widow Can’t Access Deceased Husband’s Savings Account
Your Probate Estate And Why it Matters
A lot of people creating an estate plan choose to create a revocable living trust primarily because the trust allows them to minimize the size of their probate estate. But what is a probate estate, and why would you want to minimize it? Here’s what you need to know about probate, probate estates, and how living trusts enter into the equation. The Property You Leave Behind Everything you own after you die must go to new owners. The probate process is the legal process that allows this property … [Read more...] about Your Probate Estate And Why it Matters
Common Questions About Small Estate Administration in New York
Question 1: What is small estate administration? An estate is all the property a person leaves behind after he or she dies, and estate administration is the process through which that property is transferred to new owners in accordance with New York law. Probate is the set of laws that governs the estate administration process, and these laws allow for an expedited administration process often known as small estate administration. Through small estate administration the family members of a … [Read more...] about Common Questions About Small Estate Administration in New York
More to Worry About in Probate: Post-Death Identity Theft
If you are ever asked to serve as an executor in New York, you should view this question as an indication the person asking you trusts you very much. Your job as executor will be to manage the property that person leaves behind after he or she dies. And while the probate process in New York can be somewhat daunting, you should understand that there are some new problems you might have to face that executors in the past rarely had to deal with. For identity thieves, stealing someone’s … [Read more...] about More to Worry About in Probate: Post-Death Identity Theft
Plan Carefully When Choosing an Estate Planning Lawyer
The first step in deciding to make an estate plan isn’t necessarily calling up the first lawyer you find on the Internet and asking him or her to help you create a plan. The attorney you select should be someone with whom you feel comfortable, especially when you consider that the estate planning process will often require you to think about some fairly personal issues. To find the attorney that best suits you, your needs, and your individual circumstances, you should develop a plan. Here’s what … [Read more...] about Plan Carefully When Choosing an Estate Planning Lawyer
Need More Information About an Estate? Consider These Options
An estate is the collection of property a person leaves behind after death. Estates include both assets, such as real estate or bank accounts, as well as debts and other liabilities. The legal process that governs estates is called probate, and each state has its own set of probate laws. If you want to find out about an estate that has been submitted to probate there are several possible ways to do this. Contact the Estate Administrator Every time someone dies someone else has to open a … [Read more...] about Need More Information About an Estate? Consider These Options
