Probate is the public and court-supervised process of administering a person’s estate. Going through probate isn’t the end of the world, but it can be complicated and more costly. There are a few ways to ensure that your estate plan avoids the probate process.
Simplified Probate. If an estate is small and there are no claims from creditors, the personal representative of the estate can petition the court for simplified probate. In Minnesota, it may be possible for heirs of an estate to use an affidavit to make their claim if the value of the estate is less than $50,000. This process can eliminate the need for probate or significantly shorten the probate process.
If your estate is larger there are a variety of other strategies and tools that we can use to avoid probate: [Read more…]