What is probate?
Transcript
Probate is a legal proceeding in front of a judge. It’s a court case. The court will appoint someone to be in charge of administering your property. That person, called an executor or a personal representative, will be responsible to garner all the assets together, figure out all the creditor claims, pay all the bills, pay your medical bills, file the proper papers with court, notify the beneficiaries of what’s going on, and ultimately make the final distribution of whatever is left over at the end to the beneficiaries.
Every step of the process is administered by a judge, reviewed by a judge and everybody that’s involved in the case has notice of what’s happening, opportunity to be heard if they desire to do that. It’s about a six to eight month process for a simple probate proceeding in Florida.