Wills & Probate
Almost every adult person should have a will, even if the person has a living trust, because a will is necessary in order to transfer any property titled in that person's name to the trust (or otherwise in accordance with the person's wishes) after the person's death. With proper planning, there should be little enough such property left outside of the trust by then that a probate proceeding will not be necessary, because the "small estate affidavit" procedure can instead be used. However, as is so often the case, there may not have been proper estate planning, in which case, in the absence of a will, any of the deceased person's assets that are of a kind subject to probate may have to be included in a probate proceeding. They will also, in any case, have to be distributed in accordance with the state's law of intestate succession, in other words, inheritance without a will, which is often contrary to the deceased person's wishes.
Wills are especially important for the parents of minor children in order for them to appoint third-party guardians for their children upon their deaths.
Mr. Sawyier's experience in wills and probate, both testate and intestate, includes very large as well as relatively small estates. He will help the firm’s clients to conclude any necessary probate cases as promptly and economically as professionally possible.
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