Probate is the legal process of administering the estate of a deceased person, and resolving claims and distributing the decedent’s property. Obviously, it is much easier to do so under the terms of a legally valid Will, as compared with instances where there is no Will, the Will is defective, or where the family is fighting about the decedent’s property or the status of the documents. It’s the probate court that decides at a hearing whether or not the Will meets the requirements of being a legally valid Will in the State of Texas. Assuming that the Will is legally valid, the Court will officially appoint the Executor named in the Will at the hearing and that person will be given Letters Testamentary. The named Executor will then have the legal power to dispose of the decedent’s assets according to the terms of the Will. Proper Estate Planning (done at an earlier time) will avoid potential problems with the Probate process, and the Probate process itself is best handled by a lawyer, due to the very many legal deadlines and formal notice requirements. The Law Office of Fonda G. Fitzgerald will be happy to help you with your probate matters in Dallas, Denton, Collin, and Tarrant Counties.
How Attorney Fonda G. Fitzgerald Can Help With Probate
The probate process is a complex process. When administering an estate through the Probate process, there are specific deadlines that must be met and formal notices that are required to be sent to certain individuals. Serious problems can occur if mistakes are made during the legal process itself, or if the Executor makes an error in the handling of the estate’s assets. Likewise, Executors have a fiduciary responsibility to correctly distribute the decedent’s property to the beneficiaries, and file any tax statements which may be required in a particular instance. With fiduciary responsibility comes potential liability. Attorney Fonda G. Fitzgerald can assist you during the Probate process so that potential pitfalls are avoided.
Whether the decedent’s estate contains common assets like a home, bank accounts, and cars, or whether that estate contains a more complicated asset scenario like a business and commercial real estate, attorney Fonda G. Fitzgerald can help your family. If necessary, she can assist you with retaining consulting experts to appraise and/or sell that home, business, or commercial real estate.
On the other hand, sometimes there may not be enough money in the estate to pay for debts, such as funeral costs, medical expenses and final income taxes. Don’t pay any bills until you have had the opportunity to consult with attorney Fonda G. Fitzgerald, as some state laws give certain creditors priority over others.
If there are certain taxes required to be paid when administering and probating the estate, it can be quite helpful to retain an accountant for specialized tax advice to ensure that those issues are handled properly and promptly. If you do not have an accountant who routinely handles these types of issues, Attorney Fonda G. Fitzgerald can assist you with retaining someone who can help.
Will Contests and Litigation
The reason to have your Estate Planning prepared by the Law Office of Fonda G. Fitzgerald is so that you can avoid problems with the Will and the Probate process itself. However, sometimes—even when Wills are properly drafted—other family members may have questions or begin making “noise” about a Will, or the potential distribution of the decedent’s property. Even in such an instance, attorney Fonda G. Fitzgerald may be able to help you avoid a court battle, as probate lawsuits typically tear families apart and drain a lot of money from the estate. Often, Family Settlement Agreements or mediation can be used as effective methods for helping the parties and their attorneys reach an agreed resolution and settlement of the dispute.
The vast majority of Wills sail through Probate without a hitch, but there are those times when a difficult family member may think he or she wishes to contest a Will. The grounds for contesting a Will typically include such things as the decedent being of unsound mind (when the Will was prepared), or another individual exerted undue influence on the decedent, or that fraud was involved. If you feel that these issues were involved in the drafting of a decedent’s Will, call the Law Office of Fonda G. Fitzgerald at (972) 677-7727 for a legal consultation.
