If you’ve lost a loved one, uncertainty over when you’ll receive your inheritance can make the grieving process even more challenging. You may have expected receiving the inheritance to be quick and simple. Perhaps you hoped the money would help pay for funeral costs or other pressing expenses.
When you learn that your loved one’s estate is in probate and could take months or years to resolve, this leaves you confused and concerned. These feelings are natural and valid — and we’re here to help. This guide answers your questions about probate and explains the fastest way to receive the money your loved one intended for you to have.
What Does It Mean to Probate an Estate?
Probate is the legal process when someone passes away and leaves money or property to others. The person who has passed away is called the “decedent,” and everything they leave behind to be distributed to others is called their “estate.” To probate an estate means to start the process of confirming what the decedent’s estate includes and who has a right to each part of it, then distributing the assets.
Probate begins when someone files a petition to probate, meaning a request to start this distribution process, with a probate court. The court will review this information and open the probate. The person to file the petition is usually the decedent’s executor if they appointed one. The executor is the person legally in charge of ensuring the deceased person’s estate is handled the way they intended after their death.
To file the petition to probate, someone needs to submit the person’s death certificate to prove they have passed away. The petition should also include their will if there is one.
What Does It Mean When an Estate Is in Probate?
When a loved one’s estate is in probate, the executor or legal representative manages and distributes the assets under the court’s supervision.
What Is a Summary Probate?
Many of the variations in how probates can play out will fall within the standard “formal administration” probate category. However, some states have a separate category called “summary” or “simplified” probates. Probates in this category follow a simplified process, skipping some of the standard steps. This means they take less time.
States with summary probate procedures may apply them when one or a combination of the following happens:
- The estate’s value is below the formal administration threshold.
- The person passed away at least two years ago.
- No creditors have claims of debt against the estate.
- The person left all their assets to their spouse.
If your loved one passed away and nobody has filed a probate, you can explore whether your state has a summary probate category and whether it applies to your case.
When Is Probate Needed?
A probate is needed in most cases when someone dies and leaves money or property behind. The process looks different depending on the circumstances, though:
- If the deceased person has a will, the estate goes into probate to check the will and ensure the assets are distributed according to it.
- If they don’t have a will, probate will involve determining who can inherit what part of the estate and distributing it to them. The court will appoint an administrator to clarify who should inherit and distribute the funds accordingly. The standards vary across states, but only direct relatives will inherit in most cases.
- If they have a will but leave assets that the will doesn’t include, the process is to execute the will and decide what should happen with the assets it doesn’t mention.
What Determines if an Estate Goes to Probate?
Whether or not your loved one’s estate must go to probate depends on:
- Your state’s laws: States have different legal criteria for determining which estates must go to probate.
- The estate’s size: Some states set a minimum dollar value, above which estates go to probate and below which they don’t.
- The assets involved: Some assets, like co-owned assets with a right of survivorship or trust funds, can be distributed without probate. Estates largely made up of assets like these are less likely to need probate.
These factors may all come together to determine if an estate goes to probate.
What Qualifies for Probate?
Most assets other than those we’ve mentioned as exceptions in this article are “probate assets,” meaning they qualify to be valued, managed and distributed if the estate goes to probate. Examples of probate assets within estates include:
- Money
- Vehicles
- Real estate
- Financial investments
- Personal possessions, including jewelry, clothing and collections
- Titled assets owned solely by the deceased
- Titled assets owned jointly with someone else if survivorship rights don’t apply
Where Does Probate Happen?
Most probate assets will be supervised by the probate court in the county where the decedent lived. For example, if they were born in Florida and opened bank accounts in Idaho but lived in Pennsylvania at the end of their life, their estate would go to probate in Pennsylvania.
The most common exception to this rule is real estate, which may fall under the probate court of the county where it’s located.
What Happens When an Estate Goes to Probate?
An estate goes to probate when the executor or another person files the petition to probate with the court. This starts the process. The details of the process can vary depending on your state, whether there’s a will, the size of the estate and several other factors.
Unless you’re the executor, you can relax when it comes to the legal technicalities. But it’s worth knowing the general stages your loved one’s estate must go through while in probate before you
can receive your inheritance. In general, probate will follow an outline like this:
- Petition: Someone files the petition to probate, including the death certificate and, if there is one, the will.
- Bond and letters: The executor gets a probate bond to protect them if they make mistakes in handling the estate and someone sues them. If the court appoints them, they’ll receive Letters of Administration or Letters Testamentary, which give them legal authority to distribute the estate.
- Notice to creditors: The executor gives notice to creditors that they should make their claims against the estate. The way this works and the time it takes will vary between states. They may need to write letters to creditors they know about or publish a notice in the local newspaper. This makes it possible to settle the deceased person’s debts. Creditors will have a few months to claim from the estate, but the exact time depends on state laws.
- Inventory: The executor takes inventory of the estate. They need to track down everything the deceased owned, prove ownership and establish the estate’s value. To distribute money to creditors and inheritors, they may need to sell some assets and liquidate any businesses the deceased owned. This step can also involve collecting any income, such as unpaid royalties or dividends, due to the deceased.
- Filing taxes: The executor must pay any outstanding taxes, file any outstanding returns and wait for those returns to be approved.
- Settling debts: If there have been any valid creditor claims, the executor pays the debts from money in the estate or sells assets to pay them. The estate may also dispute debt claims, which can extend the probate.
- Final distribution: The executor oversees the final distribution of any remaining assets, such as money, a home or other property.
- Conclusion: The court closes the probate. Often, this will require a closing transcript from the IRS to show that all the taxes have been settled. Some counties may require a final court hearing with a representative of the estate.
Though this is the normal probate process, under certain circumstances, some of these steps may be skipped, or additional steps may be required.
After the probate is closed, someone may sue the executor and reopen the probate if they believe there was mismanagement. For example, they may argue that they did not receive all the money due to them. According to the Uniform Probate Code, the federal standard for disputing the outcomes of a probate is to allow up to one year, but states may have different timelines.
How Long Do You Have to Probate an Estate?
It’s a good idea to file a probate for an estate as soon as possible after your loved one’s death. Filing quickly helps accelerate settling debts and getting assets into the right hands.
The deadline to file depends on the state and sometimes even varies between counties. If there’s a will, a state may require you to file it within days, or it may give you a month, years or no specific deadline at all. That’s why it’s best to check the legal requirements in your loved one’s county or state.
If there’s a will, the executor will usually file the petition to probate while they file the will. Though some states allow the petition to be filed separately later, it makes sense to do both together as soon as possible.
How Long Does Probate Take Once It Starts?
Probate is a multifaceted process that can often be complicated. The time probate takes can vary widely depending on the state and the circumstances. It is very common for a normal probate to take up to two years. Factors that can extend a probate include:
- More beneficiaries, requiring asset liquidations and increasing the risk of disputes
- The lack of a will or an incomplete, unclear or improperly signed will
- Non-liquid assets like a business or land that need to be sold
- Legal disputes with creditors or other interested parties
- Outstanding debts or taxes
What Percentage of an Estate Does Probate Take?
Probates cost money. Depending on the circumstances, you can expect to spend 3%-7% of the estate’s total value on probate. These charges can include:
- Accounting fees
- Appraisal fees
- Court costs
- Executor fees and expenses
- Lawyers’ fees
- A surety bond
These expenses can also become much higher if someone disputes the will or contests how distribution is managed.
How Do You Handle an Estate Without Probate?
If your loved one’s estate is not required to go through probate according to your state’s laws, you can handle the estate and access money they intended for you through other means. For example, you can contact any financial institution with which your loved one had a trust, retirement account or insurance policy that names you as a beneficiary. If you have a legal claim to money or property they left you, you can file an affidavit to claim your inheritance.
Even if you must go through probate, you can access part of your inheritance immediately by partnering with a reputable inheritance cash advance provider.
Apply for an Inheritance Cash Advance From Inheritance Funding Company
Inheritance Funding Company, Inc. (IFC) is the oldest and largest provider of inheritance cash advances. Since 1992, we’ve helped heirs like you access inheritance money when it’s most needed. We know the ins and outs of probate and how drawn out it can be. We also know that when you’re grieving the loss of a loved one, the last thing you need is extra stress about your inheritance taking so long to be paid out.
IFC makes it quick and easy to access a portion of your inheritance. Simply request a free quote via our website. After consulting with you for free to learn about your situation, we’ll gather any other information we need from the court, attorney and executor.
Once we have all the information necessary to validate your inheritance, we can approve your request and pay your funds as soon as that same day. You can receive a portion of your inheritance immediately rather than wait two years for the probate to conclude. We guarantee the fastest timeline, lowest price and highest quality service.
With IFC, you can access your inheritance now. Let us do the waiting for you. Our approach to inheritance cash advances saves you the worries of waiting empty-handed or the burden of repaying an inheritance loan while interest adds up. When the probate is concluded, the estate pays us from your share, with no added interest, and sends you the remainder of your inheritance.
Your inheritance was intended for you. You shouldn’t have to wait. Request a free quote from IFC to access it now.
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