Inheritance of property is not a simple process. You may have already written your will and assume that when you are no longer the property and everything you own will automatically pass to the person named in your will. Unfortunately, the legal procedures are not that simple.

When someone dies, the belongings must be passed on to another and this is done through probate court. Regardless of whether the deceased has a written will or not, the procedure remains the same. The probate process is a way in which ownership of the deceased person’s belongings is proven.

The court will first verify whether the property mentioned is indeed that of the deceased. This is confirmed by a person listed as executor in the will or an administrator if there is no written will. The administrator is appointed by the court.

It is the duty of the executor or administrator to safeguard and document all the files that identify the titles. Apart from this, they also confirm if all the debts of the property have been settled. The next step would be for the court to review the instructions on the disbursement of property.

It should also be understood that if the estate is considerably small, you can go ahead and skip probate court. This limit that identifies whether the estate is small varies from state to state and also by dollar amount.

Since these records are considered public records, anyone can request to see them. It is also common to find people with many assets setting up trusts to avoid expense and public disclosure, after which ownership is transferred to the created trust.

These trusts have the ability to go through probate since they already have proven title. These trusts, when properly established, have the ability to keep estates out of the public record, which is considered a very important privacy concern. However, it is very important that the setup is done meticulously.

If people with a trust did not add anything to the trust, they are free to write a will. The complexity of trusts and estates is very high. Although the process followed is pretty much the same each time, there are plenty of exceptions and legal jargon. In the process of recovering from a judgment, the divorce court and probate court prove to be a valuable resource for providing good, authentic information.