Losing a loved one can be a very trying time. To make it even more difficult there is this confusing thing called probate. What the hell is probate? In my continuing effort to make life a little easier in this trying time I have tried to get rid of all that lawyer-ease and break it down for you.
Probate is the transfer of the deceased’s assets to their beneficiaries. In other words it’s the transfer of your deceased loved ones stuff to their heirs. This can be done as per your loved one’s wishes – when your loved one died with a will (testate) or through the STATE’S wishes when your love one died without a will (intestate). So you can see its important to GET A WILL — NOW.
This whole process can be carried out or administered with the court’s full supervision (a dependent administration) or with little supervision (an independent administration). Sometimes before you can divide up your loved ones stuff, the court has to make a determination who the relatives (heirs) are, especially when there is no will, so they know who to give all the stuff too. This is called a determination of heirship.
Sometimes, this process can be short-cutted by doing an affidavit of heirship. An affidavit is a document full of facts that has been sworn to and signed in front of a notary. So an affidavit of heirship is basically a document signed and sworn to by a neighbor, friend or distant relative that gives the family history. As a matter of “fact” and affidavit of heirship is sometimes referred to as an “Affidavit of Facts Concerning the Heirs”.
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