Is Probate Necessary?

Good question. The answer? It depends:

• Did the decedent own probate property, that is, property that does not pass to heirs by deed, contract, title, beneficiary designation, account designation, POD or TOD account, trust, etc?
• Did the decedent have creditors and outstanding debts?
• Are any of decedent’s heirs or beneficiaries, even just one of them, a bit contentious, a bit entitled, or wondering why it’s taking so long to distribute the decedent’s property?
• Did the decedent leave a will?
• Is there any question in any one of the decedent’s heir’s or beneficiary’s mind about the will’s validity?
• Did the decedent leave minor children and no spouse?
• Did the decedent wish to disinherit his or her spouse or any other heirs?
• Are there questions about who is and who is not an heir or beneficiary?
• Do any of the heirs or beneficiaries distrust or have reason to distrust the decedent’s designated personal representative?
• Is there real estate in the estate that the decedent didn’t own jointly with someone else?
• Is the decedent’s probate estate worth less than $100,000.00 (Utah) or $200,000.00 (Wyoming)?

If you can answer No! to all of these questions, you may not need to probate the decedent’s will. If you answer Yes! to any of them, then you may need to probate the will. My plan is to review these and other questions in a series of post, so stay tuned.