If you need to manage a complex estate for a loved one who has died, you need to get legal help to make sure that you do things right. Therefore, before you do anything, you need to call a lawyer in your local community who is knowledgeable about probate and estate planning.
Getting the Legal Assistance You Require
A probate attorney in Tama, IA can help you define your legal rights and manage an estate correctly. Allow him or her to guide you in the probate process. Not all estates go through probate; therefore, some follow the state’s small estate threshold process.
Where Probate Is Not Needed
Also, you will learn when you work with an attorney that not all assets are subject to the probate process. Some of the assets of the deceased automatically transfer and probate is therefore avoided. The most common assets that do not need to go through probate include those that fall under the following designations:
- Joint tenancy assets
- Assets held as tenancy by the entirety (which is only created for married couples)
- Beneficiary allocations such as life insurance policies or retirement accounts that name beneficiaries
- Payable-on-death accounts such as brokerage or bank accounts listing certain beneficiaries
Living Trusts
In addition, according to attorney firms that handle probate, living trusts will not go through probate. However, if the assets outside the trust add up to the limit set for the state’s small estate threshold, probate is required.
Where to Get the Required Legal Help
As you can see, you need to work out the details with an experienced and reliable lawyer before you continue with probate. Find out what you need to know by contacting a law firm, such as Kollmorgen, Schlue & Zahradnik, P.C. Go directly to a firm that understands all there is to know about managing an estate after someone dies. You can also connect them on Facebook.
