Hudson Valley Law Firm Frequently Asked Questions Videos
Are there alternatives to probate?
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A person can go to the court and get something called a voluntary administration in cases where their assets are less than thirty thousand in value, that’s a much simpler process. It only cost a dollar and you may be able to fill out the forms yourself. That is frequently done. Also a lot of people have trust documents that replace wills and you don’t necessarily need to probate the will if the assets are all put into the trust already if the person has passed away. A lot of people end up having to probate the will because clients are not always diligent about keeping up with making sure their assets are all in a trust, so it does happen that they end up having to probate but it is something to avoid.
It’s a good idea to seek alternative ways to have assets distributed. Even sometimes a bank account, you can fill out an affidavit with a bank if you’re a spouse or a child when the bank account is not too large, they may be able to allow you to collect it without having to probate the will, so this is something that you should definitely speak to your lawyer about the onset, come and see us, and we’ll let you know whether you actually have to go through this more expensively lengthy process or can we short cut it in someway, and we’ll certainly help you try to find those avenues.
