Probate is not as scary as you think!

Through the years I have helped many of my clients through the oftentimes tangled web of working through Probate issues.

I am writing this post to hopefully give you some valuable information that you can use to maneuver through the sometimes tangled web. 

If money were no object and you would afford a probate attorney then everyone one would do that. Unfortunately I have heard (after the fact of course) of people losing their inheritance to probate court or foreclosure because the property was tangled up in a probate issue that the heir was unable to resolve.

If you have a relative that you know owned property and they did not have a will... if the heirs do not come forward then the property can become owned by the State. This is called "intestate".  In Georgia this is the case. If a person dies without a will then their estate will eventually go to the State of Georgia.

Now, do not fret, we do have Probate courts in each county and there is a way to work through the courts to rightfully claim your property if you are the next of kin.

The first thing that you will be required to do is to complete a "chain of heirs" form.  You can obtain the form from the respective county.  Complete the form and submit to the probate court with required payment.  In addition you should complete the form requesting to because the Executor/Administrator of the Estate.  If there are other heirs, you are required to notify them and to place an add in the local paper for notices.  After the required amount of time has passed you may have a court date to explain to the Probate Judge your claim on the estate and request for Administrative papers. If the Judge Agrees to your claim then you will take an oath and receive the proper paperwork to be able to transfer title of the property held in the estate.

Yes this sounds easy but it does take some time.  It can get complicated if there are many potential heirs especially if they want a claim as well.  The chain of Heirs from will typically also have a percentage of ownership that the Judge can go by if potential heirs are not able to agree how the estate shall be split.

I am not an attorney and do not claim to provide legal advise here, I am simply offering you some information on what I have helped to walk my clients through in a multitude of Probate situations.  I honestly suggest taking the time and patience because the rewards can be great.  

I recently had a situation where my client was the conservator over a family member that became elderly and was unable to care for herself.  My client lived out of state and the Attorney that was administering the conservatorship told her to just let the property go for taxes!!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME??  My client received calls from investors telling her the property was worthless and let them have it for $20k.  Lucky for her she called me and I sold the home for $130,000! So it was worth a little paperwork and advertisement in the paper to get that money that otherwise would have been wasted!

I had another situation of a client that became the Administrator over a family members estate and the property in the estate was worth less than the loan amount and there were many liens including tax liens on the property.  Well you may ask.. why even bother?  The answer to that question is that in the estate you have assets and liability.  In order to claim the assets, you have to pay off or resolve the liability. I was able to short sale the property in the estate, remove the IRS lien and other various liens off the property and clear all those issues up so the heir could receive the assets unencumbered from the estate including insurance policies.

So before you just give up... don't!  A little time and paperwork will allow you to claim your rightful inheritance!  Thank you for reading and if you are in the Metro Atlanta area I am happy to help you get your property listed and SOLD!