Baskin Eisel Rightmyer handles all aspects of probate and trust administration. Probate administration is the process whereby a will is admitted to probate (and thereby deemed to be the “last will”) by the probate judge, who supervises the administration.
During the probate of the decedent’s estate, creditors are paid by the personal representative, who is appointed by the judge and is normally someone nominated as personal representative in a will. If there is no will, a family member is given priority to serve as personal representative. The personal representative then marshals/gathers all assets belonging to the decedent known to exist, and after paying all creditors, federal and state taxes owed and administrative expenses, the estate assets, including cash, are distributed to the beneficiaries. This process is automatically scheduled for one year by Florida law for a non-taxable estate and two years in the event a Form 706 Federal Estate Tax Return is required. Many times the estate administration of a will can be effected from start to finish in much less time.
