Although the probate process has been simplified, it can be a confusing process, often during a particularly difficult time.

Weber Law Office assists personal representatives and beneficiaries in understanding the probate process and in administering an estate.  These tasks include:

• Selecting the appropriate probate process (for example, formal versus informal administration, supervised versus unsupervised probate);
  
• Drafting and filing the necessary documents to initiate the probate process;
  
• Collecting and maintaining the estate's probate assets;
  
• Dealing with creditors/debts of the estate;
  
• Drafting and filing appropriate probate pleadings;
  
• Assisting with the sale or distribution of real estate and other potential probate assets; and
  
• Closing the estate.
  

The probate process is used to administer a deceased person's probate assets.  Typically, the court appoints a personal representative (also known as an "executor") to probate the estate.  The personal representative is responsible for such tasks as paying for any valid debts of the estate, maintaining the estate before it is distributed, and distributing the assets to the heirs and beneficiaries.

Probate assets are those assets that are controlled by a person's will ("the person died testate") or, if the person had no will or trust, by Minnesota law ("the person died intestate").  Non-probate assets (which include life insurance, most retirement accounts, real estate held in joint tenancy, and living trust assets) are those assets that are distributed outside of the probate process.