What has to be done before you file for probate? There’s a lot of things I’m gonna focus on, the kind of probate that happens after somebody passes away when you lose someone. First and foremost, deal with the ceremony and deal with the funeral. Whatever you’re gonna do, the cremation deals with that stuff. You don’t have to rush into probate to deal with that stuff. Just take care of that and make sure that’s done.
If you need to front some of those costs, they’re expensive. You have to pay for it out of your own credit card or something. Just know that you get paid back first when the probate situation starts. So, you’ve got the highest priority even ahead of taxes. If you have to pay for the stuff out of your own pocket, I know that’s not fun, but go ahead and do that. You don’t have to worry about the legal stuff during that moment. Take care of that. Then really secure the house, secure the papers.
There’s a lot of paperwork that’s gonna be involved. It’s really helpful if you have it organized. Make sure people aren’t walking off with paper documents from the house. Sometimes, it’s impossible to replace those things, and you want to make sure they’re secure. So just lock it down, or however you need to. Then secure the house if you need to change locks, and things are perfectly fine.
You want to leave utilities going. You don’t want the landscape to get destroyed. You don’t want the electricity to go out or something to happen with the plumbing. Keep all the utilities going while you are getting ready to start. And then somewhere right, when you’re starting to contact a law firm to help you with the probate. You need to get contact information for all the heirs at law.
Who’s that? It’s basically who you think it should be. The kids, the siblings, and the parents. Whoever is alive, and you might have to go down a couple of generations. Get all their contact information, you need their name and mailing address.
Those are the two key pieces. Once you have that, you’re pretty much ready. There’s a lot more information that goes into preparing all the probate documents. But that will get you started. Those are the things you should do before you get to probate and file for probate. Everything else really should happen afterward.
Summary
Before probate can begin, you must resolve arrangements for a loved one’s funeral and financial matters. Reimbursement is possible once probate starts if you fix it with your money. Ensure the property is secured. Then, hire a respectable law firm to initiate legal action. Thus, you must obtain the contact information for the legal heirs. You can prepare for probate by following the steps below straightforwardly.
