Before we take a look at how A Team Marketing, LLC can help if you are going through the probate process, let’s make sure you understand the probate process in VA. At the event of an individual passing away, the process of probate helps distribute the assets of the deceased to the beneficiaries and inheritors through a legal system. The last will and testament must be presented to a Virginia Circuit Court for handling the probate, as there are no specific probate courts in the state of Virginia. The Circuit court should be located in the county or city that was inhabited by the deceased at the time of passing away and an appointment made with the Clerk’s office. If the individual owned a home or any property in an area, the probate process of the will should be approbated in the court of that city or county.
Once the clerk of the Circuit Court has made record of the deceased person’s will and determined its authenticity, an executor will be appointed for carrying out distribution of the possessions. The proceedings of administration of the will are all under supervision of the court. The Commissioner of Accounts is most often the medium through which the probate is carried out. In the state of Virginia, probate processing can take up to a year.
The category of estate that is acceptable includes personal as well as real property under ownership of the deceased, that is, in the decedent’s name and within the contents of the will; jointly-owned property is excluded. According to the probate, the testate death includes a valid will at time of death. If no legally valid was present at the individual’s death, the person will have died intestate and the heirs to the property of the deceased are decided by the laws of Virginia.
Personal property with joint contract may sometimes be passed on directly to the survivors. This can also work for estate having titles such as “joint with survivorship”. When titles are transferred, these decisions on how the property will be further transferred at the time of an event such as death are made. The contract made at the time of purchase or creation of the asset is looked into at the time of the probate.
After all costs are covered, all property will be passed to the spouse, or one-third to the spouse and two-thirds to the children if there are any. If there is no surviving spouse, the order of inheritance is to children, then parents, then siblings, and so on. In the case of a smaller estate to be dealt with, appointing an executor may not even be necessary and no formal administration or supervision would be required.
To start the probate, the original valid will and the death certificate are presented, usually by the executor of the will. The heirs and beneficiaries of the case are then notified of the death and the assigning of the executor before 30 days have elapsed since the incident. If the will contains a self-proving affidavit, it will have been notarized properly. If it is not self-proving, it means the witnessed signatures have not been notarized and one of the witnesses will be required to attend in person and make a testimony under oath as to the signing by the deceased on the will.
After an inventory of all the property and assets takes place, the bills and claims are checked and then paid off using money from the assets.
Finally, the executor will submit petition to the court for approval to start the transfer of the remainder of the decedent’s assets according to what is stated in the will of the decedent, or as per law if no valid will existed. New deeds can be formulated after all accounting and processing is undertaken for property, including stocks and liquidation of assets.
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