What in the Heck is Probate?

Probate, refers to the court procedures to validate a will and to properly transfer ownership from the deceased owner to others.

Certain assets are required to pass through probate and others are not.  Assets not required to go through probate include retirement assets and life insurance with beneficiaries, assets owned jointly with right of survivorship, and assets in trust.  Assets that are required to go through probate are assets that do not transfer automatically to the new owners at death.  These assets include assets owned individually by the decedent or assets owned as a tenant in common. 

Is Probate Good or Bad?

Advantages of Probate

The major advantage of the probate process is that a court reviews how the assets in a will are distributed in order to ensure that the wishes of the decedent are followed. 

Disadvantages of Probate

1. The probate process can take many months or even years to complete.
2. While probate is proceeding, creditors have the right to assert claims for payment.
3. All probate proceedings are a matter of public record since the proceedings take place in a public court.  This means that personal assets and personal information is made public.
4. Court fees, attorney fees, and appraisal fees can all add up to make probate a very expensive procedure.

Through proper estate planning probate can be avoided even for multi-million dollar estates.  If you are interested in learning more about estate planning please give me a call and we can discuss your personal tax situation.

Sincerely,

Troy Ruboyianes, CPA

 

ABOUT

TAX TIPS

CONTACT

Please do not keep me a secret. You may have a friend or family members who can benefit from this free service.
If you appreciate this service, the biggest complement I can receive is a referral.
Forward this email to a friend by clicking here.

Troy Ruboyianes is a Certified Public Accountant who graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in accounting, finance , and entrepreneurship and is working from DeBenedetti & Co, PC. He is committed to providing personalized, quality service to business and individual clients and is always interested in developing new client relationships.

To make sure our email updates are delivered to your inbox please add truboyianes@debenedettico.com to your email Address Book.

To unsubscribe, just click here and you will automatically be removed.

Troy Ruboyianes, CPA | DeBenedetti & Co., PLLC
1609 N. Wilmot, Suite 105C | Tucson, Arizona 85712
Telephone: (520) 320-1332

CIRCULAR 230 NOTICE
----------------------------------------
Please note that this written communication is not intended to be used for purposes of avoiding penalties imposed by the Internal Revenue Code or any other taxing authority, and the intended recipient cannot and should not rely on it for that purpose.

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
----------------------------------------
This email may contain confidential information belonging to the sender. The information is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that your use of the contents of this information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately.