Dawson, TX Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

Probate is a court ordered process for transferring the assets of a decedent to heirs and making sure creditors are paid. You could do a probate yourself, but given the notices that are required and the limits on what you are supposed to do it would be best to hire a lawyer. The process takes about 5 months if there are no complications. It starts with a petition that includes a death certificate and information about all heirs and beneficiaries. If there is no will, you will almost certainly have to post a bond to be appointed as personal representative. Once the petition is approved by the court, you would be appointed as personal representative and given authority to gather and manage the decedent's assets and pay creditors. You would have to try to locate and send notices to all creditors and file an inventory of the decedent's assets. At the end of the probate, if the court is satisfied that creditors have been paid and there are no unresolved objections, the court would allow the decedent's assets to be distributed to you. If the decedent's assets were not high in value, it is possible to do a simpler small estate affidavit procedure instead of probate.

No, you do not need to leave anything to any of your children. However, you must mention them in your will. Therefore, for example, "I have four children, namely A, B, C, and D. I give my entire estate to E and F." If you want, you could even throw in, "I give nothing to my issue." Don't put in your reasons.