Probate is rarely a black and white process.

Probate has a lot of details that need to be dealt with. So, to answer a few general questions, here are a few general answers.

Yes, you should have a probate attorney who is more than a little bit familiar with probate law. That should go without saying. And because of how much this process relies on the kind of assets and how many assets there are, your best ticket is to get as much knowledge as you can. Avoid probate if you can.  This isn’t your normal legal process where everyone stands before the judge to prove or disprove a point. It’s more or less dealing with the deceased’s assets and waiting for each asset to be approved. Continue reading to find out more about probate.

What is Probate and How Long Does it Take

Probate is what you might go through after someone passes on. It’s dealing with all the messy little details like handling their assets and paying off their debts in probate. Apart from student debt, debts, much to everyone’s dismay, do not go up in smoke upon death. The money has to come from somewhere and the money needs to go somewhere. So, if you’re trying to maximize your gifts to your beneficiaries, pay off as much debt as you can stand while you’re still around to pay them off.

Nonetheless, probate isn’t just dealing with debt. Assets and their distribution are central parts of probate. Who gets what must be answered. Assets must be appraised. Individuals may need to be tracked down. Everything, more or less, must go in one shape or form. Unless the deceased lived selflessly in a convent, their assets probably need to be dealt with. There can, thankfully, be preventive measures taken.

Trusts are great tools that can help protect assets while making the process of passing on assets easier. Some assets may even dodge probate because of being in a trust. Trusts are essential parts of your estate planning to make everything safer and smoother.

Why Have a Probate Attorney?

Probably the biggest reason for having an attorney is keeping everything legal.  Minnesota probate law isn’t always cut and dry. So, whether you’re seeking an attorney that can help your family prepare for probate or you need one while you’re going through the process, you want to make sure that every step you take is done properly. If the personal representative, for example, fails to carry out their necessary duties properly, there might be trouble. An attorney can be there to help everyone involved do the right things.

A probate attorney can also help your family get the most out of every decision. Don’t be fooled into thinking that just because your relative has X-amount that you’re automatically going to get X-amount. Taxes can take chunks out of assets.

You may only get Y-amount. All the debts must be resolved. This process is supposed to settle any and all financial circumstances. Houses, cars, and just about everything the deceased owns is subject to being sold off to cover any outstanding bills. Moreover, everything needs to be appraised. The collection of famous movie posters may not bring in enough cash. You could find yourself needing help deciding what stays and what goes.

What are Some of the Executor’s Responsibilities?

Effectually, the executor’s role is handling most of the will-related matters. He or she is also supposed to get the ball rolling when it comes to filing the will to probate court and notifying others that the deceased has passed. Their role is to not only act as a representative of the deceased, but to ensure that everything moves forward. They’re basically the boss of the estate.

That means that they’re the person who takes care of the estate both physically and legally. Whatever happens to the property may be on them. Even if the property is going to be sold, if it’s not well-kept, the value could decrease drastically.

Everything is still subject to appraisal, meaning that the value of the assets may still be in limbo. And here’s a big catch: the executor can revoke their position and thereby their duties, leaving their position to be potentially filled by the state. If you want something done, you should do your best to work with the executor and keep this metaphorical ship afloat.

How Long Will This Take?

Hopefully, this whole process won’t take forever and a day. Unlike meeting with a mediator for a legal matter, the probate process isn’t designed to move too fast. There’s technically no set goal for everything to get done unless someone places a time limit on it. Moreover, that’s potentially out of your control and up to the court to decide, save that you convince the court to move faster.

Just as good business depends on location, location, and location, the probate process depends on assets, assets, and assets. You can move as fast as possible. Everyone can be on board and everyone can get along. However, as long as the assets need to be appraised or otherwise dealt with, work has yet to be done. Probate isn’t normally a simple transaction of transferring items from the deceased to the next of kin. It’s got several working parts.

Trusts that were put in place can bolster the process exponentially since they can remove the majority of assets from probate altogether. As hinted to previously, trusts are your best friends.

Where Do I Start?

You start by contacting a Minnesota probate attorney. Visit or contact the law firm of Flanders Law Firm LLC. They’ve helped people deal with probate issues time and time again. I

If you’re not convinced, dial 612-424-0398 and speak with someone representing the firm.

Those assets cannot move or asses themselves. Getting them through probate faster sometimes means having more help. And even if the majority of assets are covered by trusts, consider having that same lawyer look over the trusts to ensure that everything’s in order. A lawyer who knows the ins and outs of both probate and trust law can help your family do exactly what needs to be done.

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.

Handling a Probate Case without a Will in Minnesota

Don’t think that because the deceased passed on without a will that your family can avoid having to deal with Minnesota probate law.

The truth of the matter is that you may find the situation to be far more reliant on the laws in this land of 10,000 lakes compared to cases that have a will. As a positive suggestion, because of the state in which this case is being held, you may want to look into seeing if an executor can be brought into help be a voice for the family. Below, you’ll find explanations on some of the perks and unique qualities of probate cases here in MN.

Executor Potential

One advantage of living in Minnesota is that if someone dies without a will, someone can petition to be the executor of the estate. The role doesn’t automatically fall to an administrator, and in the case that no one contests the petition to be an executor, the request may pass. That said, the person who wants to become the executor should be the one who opens the probate case and the party to provide the death certificate. It’s recommended, as such, to decide who the executor should be before anyone carries out these tasks.

However, even if someone becomes the executor of the estate, that doesn’t mean that they can make decisions regardless of the laws that are in place. Normally, the property will pass to the closest relations in situations where a will is absent. Whether that’s the deceased’s offspring or their spouse, the close family will most likely automatically receive a larger portion of the inheritance. Note that there should be ways to handle estates where the deceased leaves behind both children and a spouse, and assets can still be passed onto relatives down the family tree.

How to Divide

Since families can vary in how they’re constructed, laws can accommodate for those particular situations. If the surviving spouse and the deceased had no children to give assets to, everything should simply transfer to the living husband or wife. The same situation should occur in the case that there are absolutely no descendants and the wife or husband is the only surviving relation to the deceased. Marriage has its perks.

It’s when other relatives are included in the picture that things tend to get more complicated. If a spouse isn’t involved in inheriting anything, the surviving descendants should be able to get everything and the estate will probably be divided among themselves. As for when there are other descendants and a spouse, then the spouse will normally be able to lay claim to roughly fifteen-hundred thousand dollars worth of the estate’s assets. What remains of the estate may be then divided among the remaining descendants.

No One Remaining

Minnesota law is designed to help any potential beneficiaries inherit the Minnesota intestate estate. This is especially important for cases without a will, as wills are often the main document for listing beneficiaries of the estate. Even if the collective of beneficiaries might have distant cousins, it doesn’t matter if they’re a niece, nephew, parent, or sibling. The executor should only start to become worried about the estate’s well-being when no one who is related to the deceased can be found. Blood relations should be fully researched to any reasonable extent, and anyone who might be related by state law should also be investigated before the executor stops looking.

The executor should by no means consider that they can neglect their duties, especially when it comes to finding beneficiaries. It’s the standard for the executor to do qualitative research on any and all potential leads. Going and researching family heritage lines should come as no surprise. This may even involve placing an ad in the local newspaper. Assume that you must ask every potential candidate before you can take a break.

Nothing to Probate

A handful of Minnesota probate estates can be summarized, meaning that they don’t need to go through the full probate process. However, these cases still allow for beneficiaries to receive from the estate. Summarizing the estate doesn’t change whether or not assets can be inherited. The two big concerns which may change the situation are the deceased’s debts and their estate planning for the remaining assets. These are two issues that can make or break a probate case regardless of there being a will.

The former is simple to explain. If there are too many debts, there might not be enough assets or cash to pay them down. So, everything may be sold to pay the debts off. Concerning the issue of estate planning outside of a will, it’s possible that the deceased crafted irrevocable trusts for their assets. And since the contents of these documents aren’t impacted by probate, there might not be assets to inherit outside of the trusts. It’s possible that other matters may need to be dealt with still, but any asset that’s legitimately in an irrevocable trust might just go from one owner to the next. As a side note, it’s not just Minnesota residents who have to take these two factors into account during probate. They can modify probate cases regardless of which of the fifty states that you reside in.

Minnesota Probate Lawyers

Working on a probate case in Minnesota may take having a Minnesota probate lawyer from this state of winters and waters. How much this state’s laws modifies the case will vary for each case. Though, if there truly isn’t a will to go on, you may want to work on having as much help through the steps that you can have.

In case you talk to anyone about this situation, 612-424-0398 is the number that you can use to find help.

See if Flanders Law Firm LLC can be where you find resolution to the matter at hand so that you can move forward with this case and settle things properly. You may not have a will to go on, but you can have an attorney to work with.