Who Legally Owns An Estate During Probate?
Who legally owns an estate during probate? Min Austria Assistant at Ascent Law LLC When a person dies, their estate is legally owned by their "executor," or the person who's been appointed by a will to carry out the wishes of the deceased. If no will exists, the estate is owned by whoever is designated as such in state law. In order to claim ownership of an estate during probate, you must be an executor or named in state law. If someone else is named as executor, you might be able to get them to give up the job or you might have to petition the court for permission to take control of the probate. When you die, your estate must go through probate before it can be distributed to heirs. Probate is a legal process in which a will is proven valid, debts and taxes are paid, and property is transferred to beneficiaries. You would think that one's estate would automatically go to his or her beneficiaries to use as they see fit, but in most cases that's not true. Instead, ...