Big money saver - probating a will yourself

[libraryfreak]

In my area, lawyers typically charge 4% of the value of the estate to probate a will, and from what I've heard they have you do all the running, i.e. to the bank, the courthouse, etc.

If it's a simple will, for example my mom willed her assets to my dad and then when he passed he willed it to his kids evenly, then it really isn't that hard. I'm not saying it was easy, but with some time and willingness to ask questions, you CAN do it yourself. I went into it with the attitude that if it got to be too much I could hire a lawyer at that point.

The hardest part was learning legalese. Does that count as their foreign language credit when they're in school? It should.

 

[cjnix29]

I'm surprised the court let you do it. Technically, since you are representing the estate, and not yourself, it would be practicing law without a license.

 

[neatokimmo]

In TN you only have to probate if real estate is involved. So one way around it is to pay $90 and add kids to the deed. I had to pay $1800 to get $20K of equity out of my Dad's condo. % wise - that is crazy. But you have to use a lawyer, the court won't accept paperwork from an individual.

 

[Sadie22]

I'm amazed by hearing some states require lawyers to handle the affairs of every deceased person with (or without?) a will. Here a person names a trusted individual to be the personal representative, or exercutor, of their estate. There can be more than one PR. Then after the individual passes on the PR is responsible for filing the paperwork with the Register of Wills to open the estate. The ROW's staff is available to assist. Instructions are online. An initial accounting is filed. Depending on how long the process takes, interim accountings may be required. After all bills are paid, inheritances are distributed to heirs and a final accounting is filed. A lawyer may be used but it certainly is not required.

 

[neatokimmo]

That sounds like a very efficient process. You are lucky!

I'm amazed by hearing some states require lawyers to handle the affairs of every deceased person with (or without?) a will. Here a person names a trusted individual to be the personal representative, or exercutor, of their estate. There can be more than one PR. Then after the individual passes on the PR is responsible for filing the paperwork with the Register of Wills to open the estate. The ROW's staff is available to assist. Instructions are online. An initial accounting is filed. Depending on how long the process takes, interim accountings may be required. After all bills are paid, inheritances are distributed to heirs and a final accounting is filed. A lawyer may be used but it certainly is not required.

 

[dis-happy]

Set up a living trust and skip probate completely.

 

[allison443]

In my area, lawyers typically charge 4% of the value of the estate to probate a will, and from what I've heard they have you do all the running, i.e. to the bank, the courthouse, etc.

If it's a simple will, for example my mom willed her assets to my dad and then when he passed he willed it to his kids evenly, then it really isn't that hard. I'm not saying it was easy, but with some time and willingness to ask questions, you CAN do it yourself. I went into it with the attitude that if it got to be too much I could hire a lawyer at that point.

The hardest part was learning legalese. Does that count as their foreign language credit when they're in school? It should.

Are you saying you were named as executor and you didn't use a lawyer, just handled all the financial things, paperwork, etc. yourself?

 

[PatsMom]

It's not hard to probate a will. Many states have a very simplified probate for small estates. There really is no need for an attorney for those. I did my Dad's and just looked up the instructions on the probate court's web site. He basically died broke so it was just a matter of gathering the bills and then notifying the creditors that they would not be paid due to insolvency of the deceased.

My Mom put her house in a revocable living trust and also her non-qualified assets. Her IRA will pass by beneficiary designation. Assuming I outlive her and take over as successor trustee and also as executor of her probate estate, I can't see myself paying an attorney to deal with her estate either.

I don't tihnk practicing law without a license comes into play unless you are providing your services to someone else. I think you are even allowed to represent yourself in criminal matters, at least in my state.

 

[eliza61]

I agree. I'm in the process of doing this now. My dad passed in May, he had a life insurance policy with all the kids (4) listed as beneficieries (sp? my spell check thingy is not working) so that was easy, funeral home did all the paperwork and we got checks in the mail. His bank accounts all had a coowner on it, so once again all we had to do was produce id.
The only thing I'm working on now is his house. He had a will and left it to all 4 of us so we're trying to figure out how to get the deed worded. My younger sibling, who lived with my dad is still living there and we don't plan on changing that arrangement.
Hopefully this will go as smoothly as every thing else. I really don't want to hire an attorney for a house only worth 80K