It has long been my practice to send executors and administrators of estates numbered letters preparing them for the different stages of the probate process. Letter 1 would be about setting up the estate, Letter 2 about documenting and caring for the estate’s assets, and so on. But I have realized over time that probate has a few quirks no reasonable person could be expected to know, and also that many mistakes are made before the probate court even opens an estate. On top of that, it can be easy to get into probate without understanding where a lawyer’s time goes, or the mindset and approach you should take to make the estate go smoothly and close on time. After all, most people know that they should tally their prescription bills and charitable donations before they see their tax preparer, if they want to be cost effective, but you’d be forgiven for not realizing that probate works the exact same way.
Continue reading