March 28, 2024

What Is Probate Law: A Procedure That Doesn’t Have to be a Problem

Once someone close to us has died, in addition to the monumental process of managing the shock and grieving our loss, we soon have to turn to the business of handling this person’s final matters. This would include non-judicial tasks such as handling the funeral arrangements. But it also includes the legal procedure called probate also known in North Carolina as Estate Administration. The probate process begins immediately after death.

PROBATE: DEFINED

The word probate has Latin roots and means “to prove” and, appropriately, one of the tasks which must be performed as a part of the probate process is “proving the will.” However,
“probate” as a legal process is much more involved than merely “proving a will.”  For instance, probate takes place whether a person died with a will and/or a trust (they died “testate”) or without a will (they died “intestate”).  To succinctly sum up the practical meaning of probate, one could say that probate is the process of gathering information about a deceased person’s assets and creditors and handling them in strict accordance with the laws of North Carolina and US all while following the governance of the deceased person’s will/trust as supervised by the Clerk of Superior Court.  [Read more…]