Jackson Probate 101: The Basics

By Ronald Morton | Leave a Comment

Probate is a process that can differ from state to state.  This means that the laws which apply here in Mississippi might not be the same as other places.  With such variance in what applies, it’s just good sense to work with an estate planning attorney in Jackson Mississippi who will be up-to-date on all of the most recent information.  That said, there are some probate basics that everyone should understand.

The Will

Probate in Jackson is a court process to legally administer and close out an estate.  Unless you have specific trusts in place, your estate will likely go through this process, even if you have a will.  This is surprising news to some folks who thought that having a will would take care of everything and avoid the probate process in Mississippi.  Really, though, probate is used to ensure that the will is valid, as well as to distribute your assets according to the will.

Debts

If you have outstanding debts, the probate process is also a time for them to be paid.  The court will take a look at your assets and debts and determine how those debts are to be paid.  These debts are typically paid before your heirs receive their share of what is left.  In some cases, a Hinds County probate attorney can help you to reduce the number of assets that are vulnerable to being used for this purpose through the use of trusts.

Executor of the Estate

The person named as the executor (which may also be chosen by the courts, especially if you don’t have a will) is charged with gathering together all of your information to present during probate in Hinds County.  This means that all of your accounts, assets, and debts need to be listed and submitted to the court in a timely manner.  The executor will also be responsible for overseeing the distribution of your estate and for making sure that the court’s decisions are carried out.

Probate Lawyer

Probate lawyers in Clinton take on a number of roles in the process, one of which is acting as the executor of the will.  Some families prefer to have a professional take on these responsibilities, although there is a cost for the service.  Even if there is an executor, however, hiring a probate lawyer in Clinton is a good idea, as he or she will be familiar with the process and can therefore save the heirs considerable time, frustration, and money for the estate.

The Process

Again, the probate process can vary, but in Hinds County it will generally include the following:

  • Papers will be filed by the executor or lawyer to start probate
  • The will (if there is one) is presented along with a list of assets and debts
  • Notification of the death is made to relatives and creditors
  • The executor manages the assets for the estate for the duration of the probate process

Speak to a Hinds County Probate Attorney

If you are facing the probate process after the loss of a loved one, we encourage you to contact our Jackson probate attorneys to begin the process of closing out his or her estate.  Through compassionate guidance and hands-on legal help, we will ensure that your loved one’s affairs are properly taken care of so you can focus on your family and the healing process.  To schedule a complimentary consultation, simply call our Jackson probate attorneys at (601) 925-9797.

Clinton Probate 101: The Basics

By Ronald Morton | Leave a Comment

Probate is a process that can differ from state to state.  This means that the laws which apply here in Mississippi might not be the same as other places.  With such variance in what applies, it’s just good sense to work with an estate planning attorney in Clinton who will be up-to-date on all of the most recent information.  That said, there are some probate basics that everyone should understand.

The Will

Probate in Clinton is a court process to legally administer and close out an estate.  Unless you have specific trusts in place, your estate will likely go through this process, even if you have a will.  This is surprising news to some folks who thought that having a will would take care of everything and avoid the probate process in Mississippi.  Really, though, probate is used to ensure that the will is valid, as well as to distribute your assets according to the will.

Debts

If you have outstanding debts, the probate process is also a time for them to be paid.  The court will take a look at your assets and debts and determine how those debts are to be paid.  These debts are typically paid before your heirs receive their share of what is left.  In some cases, a Hinds County probate attorney can help you to reduce the number of assets that are vulnerable to being used for this purpose through the use of trusts.

Executor of the Estate

The person named as the executor (which may also be chosen by the courts, especially if you don’t have a will) is charged with gathering together all of your information to present during probate in Hinds County.  This means that all of your accounts, assets, and debts need to be listed and submitted to the court in a timely manner.  The executor will also be responsible for overseeing the distribution of your estate and for making sure that the court’s decisions are carried out.

Probate Lawyer

Probate lawyers in Clinton take on a number of roles in the process, one of which is acting as the executor of the will.  Some families prefer to have a professional take on these responsibilities, although there is a cost for the service.  Even if there is an executor, however, hiring a probate lawyer in Clinton is a good idea, as he or she will be familiar with the process and can therefore save the heirs considerable time, frustration, and money for the estate.

The Process

Again, the probate process can vary, but in Hinds County it will generally include the following:

  • Papers will be filed by the executor or lawyer to start probate
  • The will (if there is one) is presented along with a list of assets and debts
  • Notification of the death is made to relatives and creditors
  • The executor manages the assets for the estate for the duration of the probate process

Speak to a Hinds County Probate Attorney

If you are facing the probate process after the loss of a loved one, we encourage you to contact our Clinton probate attorneys to begin the process of closing out his or her estate.  Through compassionate guidance and hands-on legal help, we will ensure that your loved one’s affairs are properly taken care of so you can focus on your family and the healing process.  To schedule a complimentary consultation, simply call our Clinton probate attorneys at (601) 925-9797.

Trust Lawyer in Jackson MS on How Much Financial Information You Should Share With Your Family

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Advice on Safe Deposit Boxes from a Canton Mississippi Probate Lawyer

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Once you’ve gone through your estate planning in Canton, Mississippi you’ve likely become aware of just what valuables you have.  In many cases, such as jewelry, you may want to keep them in your home so you can have access to them whenever you would like.  In other cases, though, it makes sense to secure them in a safe deposit box at a bank.

The types of items one chooses to keep in a safety deposit box can vary, but here are some common ones:

  • Birth certificates
  • Marriage certificates
  • Social Security card
  • Copy of your will
  • Copies of degrees and professional licenses
  • Copies of divorce or separation papers
  • Military records
  • Deeds, titles, and insurance for real estate
  • Deeds, title, and insurance for vehicles
  • Valuable assets you don’t need to access (jewelry, coins, guns, etc.)
  • Stock certificates and bonds
  • Business documents

The safe deposit box is intended to keep your important items somewhere secure, but there are some that you need to access more easily than through a trip to the bank.  When you talk with your estate planning attorney, he or she will help you understand when you should have copies of certain documents available to you at home, as well as in your safe deposit box.

Access to Your Safe Deposit Box

For obvious reasons, access to your safe deposit is strictly limited.  If you want to make it accessible to another person, you’ll have to have them accompany you to the bank so that the proper ID can be shown and they can sign a signature card.  This usually means that he or she now has access to your safe deposit box at any time.

You may be able to limit the access by foregoing the trip to the bank and naming the person as an executor of your trust.  When the time comes, he or she can take the appropriate documentation to the bank and be granted access.  This may require a certified copy of your death certificate along with the individual’s own identification.

As you can imagine, there are some documents that need to be accessed immediately if you should become incapacitated or deceased.  It is typically of utmost importance for medical directives and guardianships of minor children to be produced, for example.  Because it can take a fair amount of time to obtain these things from a safe deposit box, an alternate plan needs to be in place.

Your probate attorney in Mississippi will be able to offer insight into how best to make these documents accessible at the right times and by the appropriate people.  Keeping copies in your safe deposit box is still a good idea, however, to ensure that they are protected in case some sort of catastrophic event (like a house fire) were to damage other copies or originals.  You will also benefit from talking directly to the employees at your bank to fully understand their policies.

What Happens to a Person’s Debts When They Die

By Ronald Morton | Leave a Comment

Jackson, Mississippi Wills and Estates Lawyer Answers, “What Happens to a Person’s Debts When They Die?”

Mortgages, loans, credit cards, even medical bills…nearly every wills and estates lawyer in the Jackson, Mississippi Metro Area is asked about what happens to a person’s debt when they die.  It doesn’t seem quite fair for your descendants to be saddled with your debt, but it also doesn’t seem fair for creditors not to get the money that is owed to them, either.
There are a couple of scenarios which may play out when someone dies with debt.  Both require the effort of the Personal Representative (or executor) and are based on your estate.
First, if your estate in Hinds, Rankin or Madison County is solvent, then debts will be paid from that before heirs get their share.  “Solvent” refers to the fact that the assets of the estate add up to be worth as much as or more than the amount of debt owed.  So, if the deceased’s estate is worth $50,000 and he or she has debts totaling $25,000, the estate would be solvent.  After the debt is paid off, the remainder of the estate can be distributed to the heirs.
If, however, the estate doesn’t hold enough value to pay for outstanding debts, it is considered “insolvent.”  In these cases, the Personal Representative will have to spend some time going through the debts, possibly with an attorney, to prioritize which debts get paid first, in full, partially, or not at all.  There are state and federal laws which help to determine how this process works.  For example, state and federal regulations may state that medical bills take priority over credit card debt.
In situations where the estate is insolvent here in <insert city>, the heirs will not be entitled to the assets, even if there was a will or trust in place.  On the other hand, they do not have to take on the responsibility of paying for the debt, which is at least a relief.  Still, it can certainly be a disappointment to discover that the home or other assets your kids expected to inherit will have to be sold off to pay for debts instead.  In some states adult children may be expected to pay outstanding nursing home costs.
According to USA Today, more and more baby boomers and seniors are living in debt.  There are several potential reasons for this, from medical and funeral expenses to unrealistic expectations about what is “deserved” at that point in life.  Unfortunately, the final outcome often ends up costing your heirs some or all of their inheritance.
In order to ensure that your estate is solvent—or better yet, to leave no debt behind for your Personal Representative and heirs to deal with—it’s a great idea to work with your Jackson, Mississippi wills and estates attorney to set payoff goals and keep yourself and your estate on track. To get started with this process, simply call our Clinton, Mississippi law firm at (601)925-9797 and asked to schedule a complimentary consultation with the mention of this article.

The Probate Process

By Ronald Morton | Leave a Comment

Estate planning can involve the implementation of some rather sophisticated strategies intended to prevent your assets from eroding as they change hands after you pass away. But what are these sources of erosion? Are money, property, and securities subject to some natural force that inevitably whittles them down in the same manner that a river can turn a rock into a canyon?

The fact is that a lot of people would probably say that there should be no cost involved in handing over their assets to their loved ones upon their death. But those erosive forces are out there, and the job of the estate planning lawyer is to guide you around them and keep your assets intact as you pass on your legacy.

One of the legal impediments to smooth asset transferal is the process of probate. When you pass away your will must be “probated,” and this is when the probate or surrogate court supervises the administration of your estate. Depending on the details of your case this is not always a completely bad thing because the venue ensures a degree of transparency, but probate is time consuming, and it can be very costly.

The probate process can take anywhere from several months to several years to run its course, and this time lag can be tough on your heirs. The costs associated with probate potentially include a fee paid to the probate court itself, legal fees, accountant fees, executor fees, and appraisal fees. When you add this up, probate costs can consume as much as 7% of the total value of the estate.

There are a number of estate planning tools that can enable probate avoidance, like living trusts, POD accounts, life insurance, and gift giving. The best combination for you will depend on the details of your estate and the specific manner in which you envision your legacy.

What Happens When There Isn’t a Will?

By Ronald Morton | Leave a Comment

If you haven’t created a Last Will and Testament or another estate document such as a Living Trust, to settle your affairs, you should be aware of what will happen to your estate when you pass away. The good news is that, if you have not done a will for yourself, the state of Mississippi has done one for you. The bad news is, the state’s plan may or may not be the same as your plan. When you don’t have a Will, state laws will name your administrator, your heirs and even the guardian to your children.

Naming an Executor

State law determines who may act as an administrator for an intestate estate. The list of possible administrators starts with the decedent’s spouse and moves to adult children, parents and siblings next. Keep in mind, an administrator chosen by law may not be the person you feel would be best for the job. If you execute a will, you are able to pick the person or people to administer your estate.

Naming Heirs

If you don’t have a Will or other estate plan, state laws will decide the rightful heirs to all of your property. Mississippi law gives your property to your spouse and children equally. If none of those heirs exist, then your executor must move through the ranks of parents, grandchildren or even your siblings, nieces and nephews.

When the law names heirs to your estate, some loved ones may be excluded and some may inherit more than others. Intestacy often causes bickering and hard feelings among heirs.

Naming a Guardian and Setting Aside Funds for your Children

If you don’t create a Will, you have no legal way to name a guardian for your underage children. When you do not name a guardian, a court of law will decide the best person for the job. The court must focus on your children’s best interest. While this is good to know, it is always better to have a say in who will raise your children if you cannot. After all, you will know your children’s needs better than a judge may.

Likewise, if you do not have a Will, the Court will appoint a guardian over your property for the benefit of your children. The Court will then oversee the use of those guardianship funds, requiring annual accountings and motions for exceptional expenditures. Additionally, the Court will oversee how the money is invested. Usually this means federally insured bank accounts, which are safe, but which also pay very low rates of interest. If you do a will, you can create a trust for the benefit of your children, and can appoint who will oversee that trust and give them the power to invest in appropriate investments that will bring a market rate of return, without all of the unnecessary expense and delays of court oversight.


Will Your Estate Pass Through Probate?

By Ronald Morton | 2 Comments

If you or another family member has ever endured probate, you know that this court-supervised process can take a great deal of time and money. For a couple of extreme examples, I am currently involved in two probates that have both been open for over 5 years, and are only just now getting closed. While this length of time is certainly not the norm, complications in the probate process can and do arise, and they generally result in delay in closing and distributing the estate. By planning ahead you can determine if your estate will require probate after your pass way. Then you can work with your attorney to find ways to speed up or avoid probate. Doing so, could be a lifesaver to your family.

Will-based Estates

When you create an estate plan, you will choose between a Revocable Living Trust or a Last Will and Testament. If your estate is not that large and not too complicated, you may decide a Will is enough. Will-based estates are settled through probate. Although small estates may pass through the process more quickly, even the simplest of estates will take 4 to 6 months to close. Large estates take considerably longer. Probate is used to move property from the name of the decedent into the name of a beneficiary.

If your estate is larger or more complicated, you may prefer a Living Trust. With a Living Trust, you may be able to avoid probate because property is titled in the name of your Trust and not your name. After your pass away, property can easily pass to your loved ones. If you leave any property out of your Trust, it will have to endure probate in order to be titled in the name of your Trust.

Tenants in Common

How you own property affects whether or not probate is necessary. If you own property jointly, it may be able to pass to your spouse or other co-owner outside of probate. If, however, you own property as tenants in common, your share of the property will have to endure probate to pass into the hands of your loved ones. Additionally, planning your estate with joint tenancy assumes that people will die in the order you expect, which is not at all guaranteed. Blended families further complicate planning in this manner. A plan relying on joint tenancy may very well result in the children of one spouse being totally disinherited because the property passed to the surviving spouse immediately upon the parent’s death, and thereafter passed to that spouse’s children.

Lack of Heirs

If you have any financial account or other property that does not have a designated beneficiary or if the named beneficiary is deceased, probate will be used to determine a new heir. If you keep your plan up-to-date, you can help speed up the process of probate by avoiding the need to determine heirs-at-law.

No Valid Will

When you don’t create an estate plan or if your Last Will and Testament is invalid, your estate must pass through probate. Probate for an intestate estate focuses on naming heirs at law and settling the decedent’s affairs according to state law.

Common Probate Costs

By Ronald Morton | Leave a Comment

Probate, the court process to settle an estate, can be a costly venture. The longer probate takes, the higher the cost will be. Lengthy probates occur most often with large estates, complicated estates, or estates with no Will. Here are some common probate costs your estate may endure.

Legal fees

Attorney fees are usually the largest bulk of probate legal fees. For a larger estate with more heirs, an attorney will have to spend more time assisting the estate executor. Other legal fees include court costs such as filing probate documents, and possible court time.

Personal Representative Payment

Your personal representative is like an employee to your estate. Since he or she may spend a great deal of time settling your affairs, the legal system requires compensation for executor duties. Your executor’s payment may range from a pre-set fee to a percentage of your estate.

Accountant Costs

An accountant is a necessity, especially if an estate is complicated. For an estate with numerous assets, this financial pro is a lifeline to keeping estate finances organized. If estate taxes are due, the accountant will assist the personal representative with the lengthy process of preparing and filing the estate tax return.

Probate Bond

If you do not have a Last Will and Testament, the court will choose a personal representative to settle your affairs. Your personal representative will have to put up a bond as a guarantee that he or she will distribute your assets according to law. Sometimes, even if there is a Will that specifies no bond is needed, a judge may still require a bond fee to be paid.

Additional Costs

Beyond the basic fees of probate are unexpected or unusual costs that your personal representative will have to pay. These costs could include mailing documents, moving property, clean-up for sale of real estate, or property storage fees.

Avoiding Probate With a Revocable Living Trust

By Ronald Morton | Leave a Comment

If you have ever been through a probate procedure before, you may already understand the hassle and expense that comes with this lengthy process. Did you know that you can take measures to help your family avoid probate when settling your estate? A Revocable Living Trust is a common tool for evading probate.

What It Is

A Revocable Living Trust is an estate planning device that lets you easily pass your belongings to your loved ones in the event of your death. To create your Trust, you must first write a trust agreement. As the trust maker, you will name a trustee and beneficiary. Your first trustee will be you, since you will want to control your assets while you are healthy and able. Your Living Trust allows you to name a successor trustee to take over running your trust when you are no longer able-bodied or if you pass away.

Once your Trust agreement is made, you will fund all of your property into the name of your Trust. If you miss funding any item, that property will have to endure probate to move it into the name of your Trust.

How It Works

Once a Trust is funded, the individual no longer owns the items, the Trust does. The individual is in control of the Living Trust, but if he or she should pass away, the Trust will simply move to the successor trustee’s control. Your Trust is an entity separate from you that continues to live when you die. Because your items belong to the Trust and not to you, they will not have to endure probate upon your death. Your successor trustee will use your Living Trust to pay your final debts and pass out what is left to your chosen beneficiaries.