ESTATE PLANNING:
PROBATE AND ESTATE ADMINISTRATION

While your estate planning documents are put in place before you die, probate and estate administration focuses on what happens after you die.

Probate and Estate Administration
Probate is a legal process, in probate court, for determining how someone’s estate will be distributed after they die.

Probate provides a process to:
• Pay outstanding debts
• Pay taxes owed
• Pay the expenses occurred during administration
• Distribute the remainder of the estate to named heirs and beneficiaries

Probate is sometimes necessary to allow the executor or administrator to take control of and protect the assets of the decedent’s estate. The executor may be an individual, a bank or a trust company. The estate planning lawyers at SSP will help you with naming an executor when you develop your will and trust.
 
The executor or administrator takes care of tasks, such as:
• Caring for all property of the decedent
• Receiving payments due the estate
• Collecting debts, claims and notes due the decedent
• Identifying and validating all heirs and beneficiaries
• Planning for federal and state taxes and preparing and filing estate tax returns when required
• Carrying out the instructions of the probate court

With proper estate planning, it is possible to avoid the probate process altogether. Contact the estate planning team at SSP to learn how to create an estate plan right for your family and business. Our experienced team of paralegals and attorneys handle all aspects of probate and estate administration process including:
 
• Full Estate Administration (Testate and Intestate)
• Small Estate Administration
• Estate / Guardianship Special Needs Trust Creation
• Trust Administration
• Non-Probate Trust Administration
• Non-Probate Asset Transfers
• Estate Taxes
• Adversarial Estate / Trust Cases

Probate Litigation
Probate litigation is the process of challenging a provision of a will or estate. The SSP probate litigation attorneys routinely represent executors, administrators and trustees in all aspects of administration disputes, fiduciary issues and settlement of complex estates and trusts. We also represent beneficiaries relating to their interests in estates and trusts, including complex tax issues.