The Common Challenges Faced During The Probate Process

Obviously, if an individual comes to me prior to death my advice is always to plan properly and to try to avoid probate and the avoidance of probate would avoid all of those potential problems that could come with the probate process. First and foremost, that would be my advice to the client out of the gate during the planning phase prior to death

One should rather get a trust together and more importantly, maybe a Medicaid asset protection trust to protect the assets and to avoid probate that would be obviously the proper protocol. If they do not have that plan put in place and probate does take place, you want to make sure that the attorney preparing the will is experienced in that area and that he follows the proper procedures in order to make sure that if the will gets objected to at the time of probate that he or she covered all of his bases.

With that being said, just because you have done the right job and you have covered all your bases and crossed all your t’s and dotted all your i’s, that does not mean that you avoid the probate process or that the probate proceeding won’t have any objections made against it, you can’t stop family member from objecting to the will if they want to delay the whole process. It is very easy for a person to file an objection and basically stall and or stop the whole process. It does not mean that they are going to win by filing their objections, but by filing their objections, they are definitely stopping or at least stalling the whole process, which is a problem because most people want their money yesterday when an inheritance is coming.

Most people are not happy about the long wait that occurs during the probate process and most people will not be happy when that delay will be increased when a family member files objections and causes litigation. So, you want to be able to avoid even giving someone the opportunity to file the objections or stall the process and generally that would be done by having a trust set up and put in place because at death, if a person has a living trust, there is no need to put parties on notice to let them know that there were assets or that a party has passed away or what the distribution of the estate is going to be. It is almost like you are not even giving them that opportunity, so that is the best way to avoid the probate issues , and that is to just avoid the whole process if at all possible with the proper advance planning with the use of a trust.

Individuals who want to plan ahead and take care of their needs when they are old can get in touch with a probate lawyer in New York. They can also get in touch with a Medicaid planning attorney or an estate planning lawyer who will understand all their needs and requirements. At The Law Offices Of Michael Camporeale P.C., we have skilled and experienced elder law lawyers and estate planning attorneys who understand Medicaid and elder law and know what to do and exactly how to do it. Our offices are located in Staten Island, New York, Brooklyn, Bronx, White Plains, Garden City, Melville, NY. Whether it is elder law, probate, estate administration, estate litigation, Medicaid applications, wills and trusts, living trusts, special needs planning, elder abuse, or nursing home accidents you need help with, just give us a call.

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If an individual does have to go through the probate process, you want to make sure that they, obviously, have an attorney that, (a), drafted a proper will and followed the proper procedures and ultimately the attorney that is probating the estate is an experienced probate lawyer that knows how to navigate the process and the system. I say that because the probate proceedings are only brought in the surrogate court. The surrogate court is a very different court from all other courts in the state and when I say very different that is because we have different procedures and different mechanisms and an attorney who is practicing, for instance, car accident cases, would not necessarily know how to navigate through the surrogate court unless they are experienced in it because the whole process is different, the way a case is brought in the civil courts or in the Supreme Court is very different than how it is brought in a probate court.

The terminology and the processes are very different. An attorney that practices in other courts and not in the probate court would be very confused if he did not have the experience coming into the surrogate court, because the procedures are different, and the way the things are handled are very different; that is where experience matters and that is where the law offices of Michael Camporeale will make a difference as we have been successfully probating and completing estate for well over a decade.

Common Costs Involved In The Probate Process In New York

Basically, because probate is a formal legal proceeding brought before a court, obviously the biggest cost is you have to retain a lawyer. Probate is a time-consuming proceeding, attorneys base their fees on the value of the estate or on an hourly rate. Fees would depend on the assets of the estate including real property, or if litigation is involved. Other costs included the court’s filing fee, the cost of process to serve parties with court papers, sometimes depending on the case you may incur fees for service of notice by publication in newspapers or the need to have an expert locate and or find missing family members.

Other factors or expenses depend on how many family members are part of the estate proceeding, if you have a lot of family members that you need to obtain jurisdiction over and serve with process. If there are family members that are missing, incarcerated, are minors or are incapacitated because of illness or age will sometimes require the court to appoint a lawyer to represent these family members in the estate, or if you have children born out of wedlock or who may not be legally adopted or heirs that passed away that left children that will require service upon them instead are all issues that sometimes come up in an estate proceeding that will cause the estate longer to conclude and would incur greater expenses. And obviously if ligation occurs that will cause the proceeding to take longer and cause it to incur more expenses.

For more information on Common Challenges In Probate Process, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (718) 475-9639 today.

Get your questions answered - call me for your free phone consultation (718) 475-9639