Julia Kagan is a financial/consumer journalist and former senior editor, personal finance, of Investopedia. Ebony Howard is a certified public accountant and a QuickBooks ProAdvisor tax expert. She ...

Learn about probate court's role in managing estates, settling debts, and distributing assets. Explore the probate process ...

When a loved one passes away, families are often faced with not only emotional challenges but also legal responsibilities.

Very few people know how to manage and take care of an estate when someone passes. There seems to be an endless stream of paperwork to complete and it becomes even more complicated when you have to ...

This is the third installment of my seven-part series on major estate planning mistakes. The first two are here and here. Not avoiding probate. When an asset passes to others through a will, it has to ...

Can You Settle an Estate Without Probate? In certain situations, it is possible to settle an estate without going through probate. Assets held in joint ownership, assets with named beneficiaries (such ...

One of the most effective tools in the estate planning process is a trust, which can offer significant advantages-including the ability to bypass the often lengthy and costly probate process. Trusts, ...

Unless your loved one puts their estate into a living trust or similar legal arrangement, the fact of the matter is that their assets will likely need to pass through probate when they die. Probate is ...

Probate can be a lengthy and complex process, leaving executors eager to find ways to expedite it. Familiarizing yourself with the legal procedures and documentation required to settle an estate ...

For Americans navigating estate planning, a revocable living trust may be the first place to start. A revocable living trust ...

Unless you're a lawyer, there's nothing good about the probate process. Probate is basically a drawn-out clerical process meant to confirm that the deceased's will is being honored. Unfortunately, a ...

When planning your estate in Washington State, one of the most common questions is whether to use a Revocable Living Trust (RLT) or a Will. Most are curious because of the horrors they hear or the ...