July 29, 2008
Probate and trust how people inherit money
Have you ever wonder how the rich inherit money? Even people of modest means go through the same process of probate and estate settlement. With a trust the process is governed by the trust document which gives the trustee greater control over the estate settlement process. The other method is by probate. The probate process is created when someone dies and leaves a will. Probate is the process of proving the validity of the will. To start probate the will has to be recorded in the county court house where the decedent lived. Probate also requires that the executor pay creditors and the bills of the decedent. Another responsibility of probate is for the personal representative to pay income taxes and distribute assets to the beneficiaries. Whether someone is worth hundreds of millions or not much at all, the process is pretty much the same.