Texas Probate Procedures: How Soon Must You File?

The statute of limitations for filing probate in Texas is four years from the date of death. If you don’t probate the Will or if you don’t seek to submit the Will into probate within four years, then whatever benefit the Will may have created for you is lost. In other words, it’s as if you had no Will.

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Georgia Probate Procedure

Some Georgia estates can be distributed without resorting to the entire probate process. For example, under Georgia’s Year’s Support laws, property is given to the surviving spouse and/or minor children to provide living costs while the rest of the estate is settled in probate.

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Florida Probate Procedures

If the property in the Florida decedent’s estate does not fall under non-probate assets, contract assets, or joint tenancy property, the property will fall under one of the following three categories: disposition without administration; summary administration; or formal probate proceedings.

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Step-by-Step Guide to the Probate Process

Probate is the legal process through which the court oversees the estate of a deceased person to make sure the debts are paid and the estate is properly distributed to the heirs. Many people think that probate applies to you only if you have a will. Not so! Your estate will be probated whether or not you have a will.

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Can I handle probate without a lawyer?

Keep in mind that you have several options for using a probate lawyer. You don’t necessarily have to turn the whole process over to an attorney. It may be enough to consult, get advice, or have an attorney review documents you have prepared. If you are unsure about the probate procedure or about the estate, you need to get legal advice, and you may decide to just let the lawyer do it.

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Settling Smaller Estates: A Simpler Procedure

The only time the probate process may be quick, is when the gross value of the estate is relatively small. This shorter probate process is called by different names in different states; every state’s definition is different, and some are complicated.

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Am I liable for the debts of a deceased parent or spouse?

If your parent or spouse passed away and left any debts, you may be liable for them. In the case of a spouse, it usually depends on whether you shared credit card debt, or have other shared accounts. In the case of a parent, whether or not you have to pay their debts depends on a number of factors such as whether you were a co-signer on a credit account responsible for the debt.

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Are life insurance and jointly-held property considered part of the estate of the deceased, and thus subject to the estate tax?

When a person passes away and leaves behind an estate, the total amount of the estate’s value is subject to the federal estate tax. The percentage of the estate tax varies each year, and typically is applied directly to the estate’s total value, unless the value of the estate falls below a certain threshold, in which case the estate is exempt from the tax.

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How to Avoid Probate

Probate is an expensive and long court proceeding in which a will is reviewed, made public and determined to be valid or invalid. While probate should ideally last no longer than four to six months, realistically some wills take as long as two to three years to probate. With so many disadvantages to the traditional court system, it is no wonder that many people seek ways to avoid the probate system entirely. The following are some of those ways.

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