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Timing considerations involved in starting a probate proceeding. First off, as the statute says, if there’s a will and you have it in your possession, you’re supposed to file it with the court in whatever location or county in which the person died. Once it’s filed with the clerk, does not commence the probate proceeding, and so if you do nothing, the time period for creditors to file their claims is two years so if you wait for two years to expire, you can then file what they call a summary administration to have all the assets distributed to the beneficiaries.

If you wish to undertake administration of the estate, it’s whenever you contact the attorney, bring him in what the assets are, the names and addresses of the beneficiaries and the creditors’ information, and then you can commence a probate administration as soon as there’s a death certificate and the regional will is filed with the court.

If you have any questions about probate and the time periods involved, well-

Video Summary

Are probate proceedings public record? The answer is yes, they are, and that’s the reason why many times, people will want to choose a trust administration rather than a probate administration. But yes, a probate administration is public record, particularly having the will admitted to probate, which shows who the beneficiaries are. The will serves as a conveyance of real estate, and so it’s important to have the will admitted to probate or have it public record, so that you, when you examine the public records, know who owns the property after someone passes away. So if they don’t have a will, they determine who the heirs are, to show who the owners of the real property are at their death. So, yes it is public record, and it is very necessary, particularly when it comes to titles to real property. So if you have any questions about probate and titles, well give me a call at (727)847-2288.

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Are inherited items subject to capital gains? Whenever you inherit property, such as real estate, stocks, or bonds, you as the beneficiary receive the item at the market value as of the date of death, so that if the property that you inherited was worth $100,000 on the date of death, and then you sold it for $100,000, you would not have any capital gains. If, however, you inherited it and the date of death value was $100,000 and you waited several years and it appreciated and you sold it for $150,000, then you would pay capital gains between the difference of the date of death value and the sales proceeds, and those would be long-term capital gains.

So, if you have any questions about probate and what value you have to show on your tax return, give me a call at (727)847-2288.

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What recourse do I have if a family of a deceased person sold off items that were supposed to go to me?

Well, I assume that the decedent left a will and also left specific devise or a personal property list designating you to receive the items of personal property, and therefore you know that you were supposed to receive those. It’s very difficult to try and get those items, or to have a remedy unless there’s a probate proceeding involved. So if there’s no probate proceeding involved, you would have to probably establish a probate proceeding and then sue whoever it is who dissipated these items of personal property.

So it’s very, very problematic, and usually the amount of the value of the personal property, although it may have a lot of sentimental value, usually does not justify the cost involved in attorney fees, opening an estate and pursuing the matter. So if you have any questions, give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Can a vehicle title be transferred directly from the decedent’s name to a buyer? The answer to that is, is that if there is a probate proceeding, well, then the personal representative can sign the title and transfer it to the buyer, but you have to have an estate administration opened in order to have the title transferred from the decedent’s name into a buyer’s name.

If there’s no probate involved, a motor vehicle title can be transferred to his children or to his dependents, and then once it’s in their name, they can turn around and sell it, and you don’t have to go through probate to transfer the titles to a dependent or child. So that’s one way that you don’t have to go through probate, but you cannot take it directly to a buyer. It has to go into the children’s name first if you don’t have a probate proceeding.

If you have any questions about probate or transferring titles, my phone number is 727-847-2288.