It’s easy to create a plan to pass financial accounts directly to heirs before you die and avoid the probate process after death. All you have to do is complete a form from your financial institution ...

Without a will, your state probate court decides where your property goes after your death. Many, or all, of the products featured on this page are from our advertising partners who compensate us when ...

Probate Initiation: An interested party, often a family member or creditor, petitions the probate court to open an intestate estate. Appointment of Administrator: The court appoints an administrator ...

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 ...

When someone passes away and their property is not in a trust, these assets must typically go through probate. Probate is a court-supervised process that can delay distribution, increase costs and ...

After a death, settling a person’s estate typically triggers the probate process. This court proceeding, during which the ...

Save your loved ones a lot of hassle and expense by taking steps now to protect your estate from probate. Unless you're a lawyer, there's nothing good about the probate process. Probate is basically a ...