So You Found Your Loved One’s Will. Now What?

You’ve searched through every nook and cranny of your loved one’s home and finally found their will stashed in an old cereal box in the hall closet.  Whew!  The hard part is over, right?  The movies show you what happens next:  you take that will to an attorney’s office, the family gathers at the attorney’s office, the attorney (in his best Morgan Freeman voice) formally reads the will to everyone, then the lucky ones take their inheritance immediately and carry on with their lives.  (You’re walking away with Uncle Harry’s tie collection.  Lucky you!)  Easy peasy.

Unfortunately, finding the will is just the beginning of the process.  While the will establishes your loved one’s wishes for their assets, more is needed to actually carry out those wishes.  The will must be probated, which is the legal process to settle debts of the estate and distribute assets to those named in the will.  Probate requires filing the will and opening of a probate case in the county where your loved one resided at death.  From there, the Court will determine the validity of the will and appoint an executor.  The executor is tasked with locating and valuing all of your loved one’s assets and notifying any creditors to make their claims against the estate.  Once the debts of the estate have been paid, the executor then distributes the remaining assets in accordance with the terms of the will.  The executor is then discharged from their duties, and the probate is closed.

Thankfully, the probate process in Georgia isn’t as expensive or as drawn out as it is in other states (looking at you California).  However, it is still a process your loved ones will need to undertake after your death, and it will take some time.  It can also open up the possibility of interfamily squabbling.  If Cousin Susie believes you inappropriately persuaded Uncle Harry to change his will to leave his ties to you instead of her, Cousin Susie is going to make a stink about it.  That will greatly increase the time – and cost – of the probate process.

Fortunately, there are ways to avoid the probate process.  We’ll discuss these in our next blog post! 

*This post is made available for educational purposes only as well as to give you general information and a general understanding of the law, not to provide legal advice. By using this blog, you understand that there is no attorney-client relationship between you and Weber Pierce, LLC.