Probate ... Is there any reason to like it?

Daleandee

Daleandee

Final Approach
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Mar 4, 2020
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Dale Andee
Being named executor of an estate has proven to me that there are things aggravating enough to rival an FAA medical denial for a 3rd class over a supposed Mary Jane tattoo on a forearm. :rolleyes:

Why in the world do citizens allow this? :dunno:

I know there are better ways to settle an estate, but here I am in the beginning of an incursion into probate proceedings. Can it be as horrible as the first experience has led me to believe?

Hints, tips, and shortcuts accepted!
 
It depends on the will and the assets. I dealt with my Grandfather's estate for 14 years, IIRC. Included were an angry Grandmother plus 4 aunts and their sister (my mom) who were all jockeying for various things. All caused by 7 people (Grandmother, Grandfather, and 5 daughters) who didn't trust one another financially and were largely playing the I, Me, Mine game. Oh, the phone calls and letters...
 
No reason I can think of to like it. If for no other reason then because someone most likely known to the executor is gone...
 
If the will is proper and all the surviving family are agreeable, it can be not too difficult, just takes time and patience. But add in an estranged sibling, child or ex with a grudge, and it becomes a PITA. Then, if there's a "family trust", and estranged family/beneficiaries it gets really weird.

I got to where I absolutely hated trying to keep up with it all. Finally sold the house, dissolved the trust, and sent a certified check to the estranged brother-in-law. When I finally filed the final tax return on the trust, I just crossed my fingers and hoped. So far, no blow-back. Its been almost 5 years now....
 
wilkersk said:
I got to where I absolutely hated trying to keep up with it all. Finally sold the house, dissolved the trust, and sent a certified check to the estranged brother-in-law. When I finally filed the final tax return on the trust, I just crossed my fingers and hoped. So far, no blow-back. Its been almost 5 years now....
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I need to check some dates, but I'm still in the holding period for records for 4 estates. I have a closet full of bankers boxes I'm looking forward to hauling to the garbage dump one day.
 
The first glitch I ran into was the last survivor didn't probate their deceased partner ...
 
I muddled through it with the help of a pamphlet and someone working in that office at the courthouse.

If there's any chance of anyone contesting anything I'd get a lawyer to handle it... or if you just plain get tired of wading through the bureaucratic nonsense. The main reason I actually didn't bring a lawyer in was I'd had one before the person died handling power of attorney/guardianship issues and they wasted a whole bunch of my time and money by missing something that would have simplified the whole process. So... I kinda decided to just go it on my own that time around as long as I didn't hit any stumbling blocks. Like I said, I muddled through but if I'd had confidence that I would have been able to hand the whole mess to someone and pay them to just take care of it correctly and efficiently I probably would have been happier.
 
A relative is about 18 months in, several million $$ estate, 5 serious properties. The guy died fairly suddenly, 72, never married, no kids. It seems like a thankless task, ‘friends’ & various relatives jockeying for $$ & wares.

I don’t have an answer, except to give it all away just before you die.
 
I can think of three reasons to like probate (using the word "like" very loosely) .
1. You have resolved all potential creditor claims against the deceased, so they can't come at you later. (That's what the waiting period in most states is about, even if there is an informal administration).​
2. In the worst case - a bit fight among the family - someone is ultimately going to resolve it, hopefully without bloodshed.​
3. It can fix ownership issues. This one is sort of aviation specific. I was involves in one where the FAA Registry would not register the aircraft because of a problem with the title. Without going into detail it was a mess that originated with an owner who played fast and loose with the LLC that owned the airplane. It took a probate order vesting ownership to resolve it.​
 
I appreciated the fact that the house next door to where my wife grew up was vacant for a couple of years while going through probate…when my MIL died, the kids of the neighbor gave the house a good cleaning and let us use it for the week of the funeral.

On the other side, when my wife’s uncle died, my wife and her brother and cousins who inherited it realized that by the time it went through probate they’d have more money invested in it than it was worth…and there were already squatters living in it. So they just told the state they didn’t want to inherit it.
 
There were some suggesting that a (their) company could handle all the work that need to be done (cleaning, organizing, selling) for a fee of course. I know nothing about this but ask if anyone has used such a company?
 
When my mother-in-law died, we thought we'd spent down her estate as she was in Alzheimer care for the past few years. We'd spent down her assets and she was on medicaid for the last year or so. Turns out she inherited some money from a woman she had befriended 50 years earlier. It made the what would have been a trivial estate rather involved.

My father's estate was another matter. My mother was not a big believer in paid financial planners so she had assets all over the place. My sister (a retired attorney) spent a lot of time scrounging these up so she could administer the estate. She'd just about think she'd be done when she'd find another CD or small mutual fund somewhere.
 
Probate lawyers can tell you some reasons to like it…

But I think that, just like every criminal defense lawyer and prosecutor should spend a night in jail at some point in their lives, every probate lawyer should have to serve as the personal representative / executor/trix of an estate so they can understand why their clients sometimes struggle. There’s nothing like trying to untangle someone’s life, wait in line a few dozen times to navigate a bureaucratic nightmare known as a bank or DMV, and so on, all while deferring your grieving until it’s over and only then collapsing into a puddle because you finally caught your breath and found that the exact loved one to whom you want to vent about the whole thing is gone.

Ask how I know.
 
iamtheari said:
Ask how I know.
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I appreciate the offer but I'm slowly learning the lesson for myself. The court I have to deal with is seventy miles away. I got a call the other day that the first party that wasn't probated by the last one had something wrong on the paperwork they had filled out but never returned to the court (I did find it and took it to them on my last trip to the court).

I had no idea there was a paperwork error until they called asking could I come to the court and strike through a (one name) line and initial it so it would be correct. They had examined the papers and accepted them before I left but three days later decided they needed to be fixed.

I'm finding various bank accounts, insurance policies, deeds, leases, and other interesting stuff. There is even the prospect of property owned in another county that has come to my attention. Arrggghhh!

Well they have scheduled a zoom meeting for later this week where, supposedly, they will answer all the questions I have ... and I hope they're ready as I have a bunch!
 
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