When you die, a section of law known as estate and probate law governs how your assets are distributed. Someone who dies (known as the “decedent”) with a legitimate will has set up what is known as a ...

Probate is the administrative process used to move official ownership of a deceased person’s possessions, known as assets, to other people. When someone dies having signed a valid will, the probate ...

Think estate planning can wait? Here’s the thing: putting off or delaying estate planning can leave your loved ones in a difficult position. Among the issues is passing away without a will, one of ...

Julia Kagan is a financial/consumer journalist and former senior editor, personal finance, of Investopedia. Marguerita is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor ...

Probate is the legal process of proving the validity of someone’s will. So, that means when a property is in probate, there are various legal maneuvers that the inheritors of the property, the ...

The neighbor, Joann, was a widow with no children. Joann's will specified that all of her assets would go to Sarah's dad and ...