Probate and Estate Administration

Before an executor may begin to act on behalf  in your estate, the Surrogate's Court must determine that the paper offered as the will is genuine and that it was properly executed.  This process is called probate.  When the will has been admitted to probate, the executor and any other fiduciaries named in the will will be given "letters" that allow them to act as specified in the will.  I will guide you through the probate process and make sure that letters are issued to the appropriate people.

If someone dies without leaving a will, they are said to have died intestate.  If an intestate decedent left assets, the Surrogate's Court may appoint an administrator to take control of and distribute the assets according the the law of intestacy.  If you are a family member of an individual that has died intestate, I can help you identify the proper administrator and guide that person through the process of being appointed as the administrator.

Sometimes family members of the deceased believe that the will offered for probate is defective to the extent that it cannot be admitted to probate.  There may also be times that the beneficiaries of an estate are satisfied with the will, but they are concerned about the ability of the executor named in the will to carry out his or her duties.  During the probate process, I will defend any challenges to the validity of the will or the appointment of the executor.  If you are a family member that would like to challenge a will or the appointment of the executor named in the will, I can assist you with that process as well.

Once the appropriate individuals have been appointed to act on behalf of the estate, the estate must be administered.  This process entails gathering all of the property owned by the decedent at the time of his or her death and distributing the property to the beneficiaries named in the will or that are entitled to share in the estate under the law of intestacy.  I will help the executor or administrator identify estate property and properly distribute it.

After the estate has been fully administered, the executor of administrator must account to the beneficiaries of the estate.  An accounting is simply a statement of the property received by the executor or administrator along with a statement of how the property was distributed.  I will prepare the accounting for the executor or administrator and obtain the approval of anyone that has an interest in the estate or, if necessary, the Surrogate's Court.