After a person dies, unless a person has carefully created a trust, that person’s estate will have to go through the probate process. In order to do this, a representative for the estate will need to be named. That representative will be responsible for settling the person’s estate through probate. However, this process can be involved and difficult for the average person. For this reason, properly planned estates often enlist a Probate Law Firm in San Francisco CA to help the representative through this difficult process.
In the state of California, anyone can be named by the decedent as the representative of their estate. However, it’s common for the decedent to name a spouse, a sibling or perhaps one of their adult children as the representative of their estate. In these situations, it is up to the representative to do a number of administrative duties.
They will need to collect a list of all debts and any taxes that the decedent owed. They will also need to collect life insurance proceeds as well as rolling over any existing funds in retirement accounts. In addition, they will also have to go through the complicated process of valuing a person’s estate. This is taking into account a person’s liquidity as well as any assets that they owned.
This sort of thing can be complicated for a person, which is why a Probate Law Service in San Francisco CA is important to have ahead of time. What this means is that the representative of the estate will have the assistance of an attorney that understands the probate process in California. They can take care of the duties that the representative is responsible for, making life for the representative much easier. This also avoids some of the common mistakes that can routinely happen when the average person is acting as a representative of a person’s estate.
While there are many other things to think about, and many things to plan for ahead of time, legal services to assist the state representative is essential. If you’re looking to plan ahead or you want more information on dedicated probate law services, you can contact Von Rock Law, PC in San Francisco CA.
