Entering the world of Wills, Trusts and probate can be confusing. One of the first questions people often ask is: what is the difference between a Trustee and an Executor? To put it simply, a Trustee is the person who oversees a Trust, while an Executor is the person who oversees a Will, which often

When do you need to probate the assets of a decedent?  First of all, let’s make sure we know what “probate” means–it sounds like a medical condition.  But in fact it is simply a court process where a decedent’s assets are taken over by an appointed “personal representative”, the last debts and bills of the

In an earlier post we described what probate is and that it only applies to assets titled in the name of the decedent at the time of her death.  Now we want to discuss how to start the probate process (it’s just a court process after all).

Handling a California probate can be summed up