Does a Will Have to be Probated In Minnesota?

Does a Will Have to be Probated In Minnesota?

When it comes to wills and probate law, the former tends to greatly intertwine with the latter. You can go through a Minnesota probate without having a will on hand. That means, however, that most of the situation will be governed by the governing parties.

Estate planning tends to consist of your endeavors to try and state how you want your estate to be handled. Some of it may not work out if something doesn’t hold up in court, but if everything is done properly, you could potentially put everything you own into the right estate planning tools and have it sent to the right parties.

Your will might be, on another note, the central document for your estate planning. You could try and use trusts to redistribute your assets, but that all depends on your preferences. Wills tend to be the main tool for listing out your beneficiaries and assets. When in doubt, consider your will as starting point to help all the parties involved.

Who Gets What Stuff

It’s important to understand the role that wills can play in redistributing your assets. There’s also the fact that the will must be authenticated and can be challenged during this legal event, but once it’s clear, the will may dictate who gets what. Probate will probably take place regardless of there being a will or not. Your Minnesota estate planning tools are there to help give you freedom. Not having a will during probate is when the government tends to step in and make sure that all the assets get redistributed while having to figure out who rightfully receives anything.

It cannot be stressed enough how much the lack of a will can set things behind. You cannot neglect anything that’s not put into other estate planning tools such as trusts and you have to account for everything the deceased owned. The probate process is like a sale where everything must go or be accounted for. That includes projects like appraising the assets and finding out how to get them to the beneficiaries. The stuff has to go somewhere and the deceased’s will tends to be the document that everyone relies on.

Must Be Authentic

The will’s authenticity is what may make or break the Minnesota probate process. If it doesn’t prove real, then you have to find out what the next steps are. Proving that the will is important to move things forward. It’s so important to the process that certain states expect that whoever possesses a copy of the will should file for probate as soon as possible. Also, know where the death certificate is. Knowing where that is located can only help you and may prove to be necessary later on. Just as the will can’t be faked, so the passing of the deceased can’t be faked.

Keep in mind that just because the deceased wrote the will doesn’t mean that everything is ready. Parties which are interested in the will can contest it. Factors such as incapacitation can incapacitate the will from having any lasting impact. This is why you might want to consider opting for a living trust so that you can give away the assets before your will can be contested. The more that you can do beforehand to plan out your estate will only help your family to better deal with difficult concerns. If the will is contested, consider the will invalid until it’s proven innocent.

Select the Executor

Going through the probate process without a will probably means someone else gets to decide who the executor can be. While it’s true that not every will names an executor and that you can have a will without naming one, naming an executor might make the process easier. Assume that the government will decide who is going to be the executor if you don’t. It can’t be overestimated how much power you forfeit by not including more details inside your will. As far as you’re concerned, you might want your executor to memorize your will well before you pass.

That said, there’s a reason why executors are commonly referred to as personal representatives. They’re the person who gets the documents in order to help close out your estate. Without their help, you may as well consider the probate process postponed indefinitely. The people who help to close out your estate must be able to work with them. Select someone who will get along and will know what to do. They’re probably filling in your shoes after all.

Be Truthful

Though this might have been evident from the start, your beneficiaries probably won’t receive anything until after the probate process is complete. That may sound like it’s simple, but there’s a small catch. Your executor has to present all of the transactions pertaining to the estate before anybody can inherit anything. That means they must record and prepare a list of all the things they did when it came to your assets, more or less, and get it cleared.

Your executor has to be truthful to say the least. If the court isn’t happy, your beneficiaries may not be happy. To them, it might just appear that the assets are going through the probate process, but the real fight might prove to be internal. Cooperation is key. Having your will and copies of your other estate planning documents will only help all of those involved. Messing up one small detail could prove costly. Be well aware of what situations might arise in case something of yours is sold for a low amount, and there are still debts to be paid.

Minnesota Probate Lawyers

How you write your will may be different once you look into more about probate law. Your will isn’t the only thing that you can use to make the probate process easier. There are other estate planning tools out there that can help your assets avoid going through the probate process. Contact the Minnesota probate attorneys at Flanders Law Firm LLC.  You can always call someone at 612-424-0398 for ideas.

Flanders Law Firm LLC is a resource for whatever concerns you might have concerning preparing for probate in the future and for working on estate planning in the present. Probate isn’t something to be afraid of. Rather, it’s something that you can work through.