What is Probate?

Probate is the formal, open to the public, court supervised process to identify and distribute assets owned by a deceased person (a “decedent”) in their name alone, at the time of their death. Moreover, this process involves identifying creditors, beneficiaries and to distribute assets according to a Will or by intestacy. Probate is generally a time intensive process because at a minimum it can take at least 9-12 months and may be an expensive process (court filing, administration and attorney fees).