Role Of An Attorney In Estate Administration

Law Blog

When you die, the estate execution process begins. The process may entail gathering and valuing assets, paying creditors, collecting money owed by debtors, and distributing your assets accordingly. However, your estate administrator may encounter legal problems during these processes. In such cases, hiring an estate administration attorney is essential. Here are the roles of an estate administration lawyer.

Will Contention 

The deceased may exempt you from his will, yet you're a deserving beneficiary. In such cases, an estate administration attorney can give you different legal actions to consider. For instance, you can decide to settle the matter outside the court and negotiate with the family lawyers and other beneficiaries. This helps you save court fees and stress during the entire case duration.

If these efforts are futile, you can contest the will. However, convincing the court to invalidate a will can be challenging as you must prove coercion, fraud or mental instability of the deceased. Fortunately, your lawyer can help gather sufficient evidence and present it to the court persuasively. In return, the court may dismiss the will. 

Life Insurance Proceeds Application and Follow-Up

When your loved one dies and has life insurance, there's a legal claiming process you should follow as a beneficiary. Otherwise, the claims may take a long time to process. Thus, you need estate administration attorney services to apply for life insurance proceeds. The professionals understand the documentation and supporting evidence you should submit. Besides, your lawyer fills the documents accurately and submits them on time.

Also, if your insurer requires extra documentation, your lawyer will provide it. Additionally, since insurance companies process many claims, there may be delays. Your estate administration law service can follow up with your insurer. This helps speed up the claims process.

Tax Returns Filing

The deceased may have owned businesses or personal accounts with undeclared taxes. The law may seize such assets due to tax evasion, especially when the tax amounts are too high. Hence, your estate administrator may not be able to distribute these assets to the rightful heirs. So, filing taxes is necessary. 

However, the process can be complicated, and you don't want to make blunders to avoid legal problems. Fortunately, an estate administration attorney has tax filing knowledge and experience. Hence, your lawyer can update property and asset taxes, preventing you from tax-related lawsuits.

The roles of an estate administration attorney include handling will contention cases, filing tax returns, and applying and following up on life insurance proceeds. Consider hiring estate administration lawyers to perform these roles.

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24 March 2022

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