A Last Will and Testament is a written legal document with instructions for distributing assets after death. The person who writes the will and is giving away assets upon death is called the testator. The will designates someone to take control of the assets and administer the will and this person is called the Personal Representative. After the Will is approved by the court, the Personal Representative will distribute real estate, cash, bank accounts, investments, and certain specific belongings among other assets to designated persons. The will must be signed by the testator with witnesses and a notary present with specific and exact verbiage in order to be self-proved and admitted to the court. In order to make sure the Will is enforceable, make sure you retain a Miami Probate and Estate Lawyer or Ft. Lauderdale Probate and Estate lawyer to prepare the appropriate documents.

The specific division of the court that handles the administration of a Will is the Probate Court. After death, the family deposits the will with the Probate Court, and then the Court will begin the process of enforcing the instructions in the will. The process of the will being enforced is called probate, and a personal representative will be appointed by the court to gather all of the assets, to file an inventory and to determine if there are any creditors of the decedent that are owed money. The Personal Representative must reach out to any reasonably known creditors, such as credit card companies and utility companies, to determine if they are owed any money. This is done by serving a Notice to Creditors on these reasonably known creditors. These creditors have 30 days to file a Statement of Claim with the Court or their claim will be forever barred. The Personal Representative must also publish the Notice to Creditors in the newspaper in the city where the Probate is taking place and then this allows 90 days for all other creditors to file their Statement of Claim or their claims will be forever barred. There is also a process for the personal representative to object to claims. If the personal representative objects to the claim, the creditor then has 30 days to file a lawsuit or their claim will be forever barred. After the claims are resolved the balance will be distributed to the beneficiaries according to the Will and the Estate can be closed.

Whether your loved one died with a will (Testate) or without a will (Intestate), our firm can and will represent you. The court will appoint a personal representative (executor) to administer the will in accordance with its provisions or in accordance with Florida Law, if there is no will. We at Kreutzer Law Offices will represent the Personal Representative in the entire probate process including, but not limited to, filing the Petition for Administration and the various other initial documents, Petition to Determine Homestead, Petition to Determine Exempt Property, Claim objections, and all petitions necessary to gather all of the decedent's assets. Our firm will also investigate and determine which debts must be paid and object to claims that are not owed. If certain assets are exempt from creditors, we will protect those assets accordingly. After the creditor period expires, we will proceed to close the estate as quickly and efficiently as possible. Therefore contact your Miami Wills Lawyers and Ft. Lauderdale Wills Lawyers today.