Probate

Probate is required for assets and property not controlled by the terms of a Trust or Transfer on Death “TOD” or Payable on Death “POD” beneficiary designations.

In other words, everything controlled by a Will goes through the process of probate. The person named as the Personal Representative in the Will usually initiates probate. The Personal Representative has many duties including the duty to inventory all the deceased person’s assets and keep a detailed account of all the estate finances.

If your spouse died and left everything to you, use a special type of informal probate called Summary Administration.

For summary administration to apply, the surviving spouse must be the only heir. This occurs when a will leaves everything to the survivor or when everything owned was community property. All community property goes to a surviving spouse even if the deceased person never had a Will. Therefore, you can use summary administration whether or not a Will existed.

 

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