The Right Reasons to Hire a Probate Attorney
Everyone who has ever acted as the personal representative (living trusts) of the estate of a deceased person has felt a great sense of relief when the estate assets are settled and probate was finally over. Distributing the estate to heirs always comes with some form of relief for you as the deceased’s living trust.
Mostly, during the estate administration process, probate administration takes less than a year, but it can be a stressful few months of legal duties. Things may also get tough is if the deceased individual owned estate property in different states hence the need for ancillary probate.
You have to gather detailed information about your deceased relative’s financial affairs (including retirement accounts), and it is a difficult time watching your inheritance get smaller as you pay your deceased family member’s debts out of the real property. If there are no legal disputes, though, you do not need a lawyer. Therefore, the process of probate runs very smoothly because you are able to distribute the assets to heirs within the shortest time. In fact, you only need a California probate attorney if there are disputes such as these (during the administration of estates):
- Conflicting versions of the will
- Allegations of undue influence or forgery of the will submitted for probate
- Disputes about the deceased person’s debts and income taxes
- Very high-value assets
- Large debts owed by the estate such as estate taxes
- Rightful heirs who think they have been unjustly disinherited
The Wrong Reasons to Hire a California Probate Attorney
If you think you should hire a probate attorney purely out of caution, probate attorneys everywhere are ready to pounce and take your money with high prices on an hourly rate and initial consultation. You should not hire a probate lawyer for legal representation just because the probate forms have lots of details and are time-consuming to fill out as part of the legal requirements. You also should not hire a California probate attorney just because you are afraid of making a mistake on the forms and causing the probate process to take longer than it would if you had a lawyer’s legal advice.
California lawmakers know that most people do not have the money to hire lawyers, even though every deceased person’s estate must be distributed among that person’s heirs with the participation of the probate courts. Therefore, like divorce and child adoption, probate legal proceedings are a court process meant to be accessible to everyone.
What to Do Instead of Hiring a California Probate Attorney
Yes, the courts in California publish a lot of information to help people follow the steps of probate on their own, but that does not mean that probate is an easy or stress-free legal issue. If you hire a registered legal document assistant to prepare your probate forms, you can have peace of mind as a personal representative for the deceased individual without breaking the bank.
A People’s Choice is a Better Choice Than a Lawyer for Probate
Probate is mostly paperwork, so you should hire a professional whose area of expertise is legal paperwork rather than a licensed attorney. Contact A People’s Choice instead of hiring an attorney and be done with probate without paying a lawyer’s hourly rate. Call now at 800-747-2780.
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