Probate & Trust
Probate
Probate can be overwhelming for many people, and rightfully so. The probate process is a legal proceeding that takes place when someone dies. When you’re grieving and facing the loss of a loved one, the paperwork and mere thought of having to go to court can cause many to freeze. Often a quick Google search can get you started, but far too often the Internet will lead people astray and offers far more misinformation than helpful hints. The team at Markve & Zweifel has helped hundreds of families navigate the probate process.
A few of the misconceptions we hear the most about probate include:
- I have a Will. I don’t need to go through probate.
- Probate is when the state takes all your money.
- Probate takes forever – I’ll be dead before we even get this started.
- I have power of attorney for my parent, we don’t have to worry about probate.
- I found a few forms online. I can do this probate thing myself.
- Mom loved me the most. I should get everything.
While there are little kernels of truth in each of those statements (yes, your Mom DID love you the most and you SHOULD get everything) they’re far from accurate.
Wills do not avoid probate – they simply serve as instructions for the probate court. Similarly, powers of attorney do not avoid probate.
The State doesn’t get your money in probate – other than the mandatory court filing fees and costs, probate simply allocates a deceased individual’s assets to their heirs under Minnesota law or according to the terms of the will.
Some probates take longer than others, but the easiest matters can be wrapped up in as little as 4 to 6 months. More complicated probates (lots of assets that may be hard to liquidate or distribute, feuding siblings, and having to re-open or re-do a probate that was self-started by a well-intentioned client who found the forms online) will take longer.
Probate may not be the easiest way to administer an estate – trusts, properly designated beneficiary designations, and lifetime gifting, are often more efficient – but it can be pretty painless. The lawyers have handled hundreds of probate proceedings all around Minnesota including:
- Informal Administrations
- Formal Unsupervised
- Formal Supervised
- Summary Assignments
- Special Administrations
- Decree of Descents
- Ancillary Administrations
If you need to probate the estate of a loved one, contact MZ today.
From writing and establishing a Trust, to ensuring it is properly administered throughout your lifetime (and after) the team at Markve & Zweifel can help.
For those who have a trust drafted by the estate planning lawyers the administration is pretty easy. We’ll be sure to set you up for success after signing by making sure the trust is properly funded, checking in periodically to make sure the trust is working as it should.
For others, usually the ones who paid thousands of dollars for a big trust presented in a fancy three-ring binder, our team can help make sense of all the pages and ensure it works the way you think it should.
Trust Administration
We can help answer the eternal questions of:
- What exactly is a Trust?
- Do I need to be a millionaire to have one?
- What is the difference between a Grantor, a Trustee and a Beneficary?
- What does “health, education, maintence and support” really mean?
- What is a trust corpus?
- Do I ever get the money from the Trust?
- Can I establish a trust for my pet… dog? cat? turtle?
Whether your need help making sense of the trust itself, or want to ensure your making the trust distributions correctly and complying with accounting and tax requirements, we can help.