Probate and Real Estate Law

Probate administration, a court supervised process, requires the executor or administrator of a decedent’s estate to account for all of the decedent’s assets and all distributions of such assets to the beneficiaries and creditors. The executor or administrator is required to file notices, inventories and accountings. The inventories and accountings must be completed in a manner acceptable to the Commissioner of Accounts, the court appointed auditor of the probate estate. The attorneys at McDermottWard represent executors and administrators to ensure timely compliance with all of these requirements and appropriate distributions.

Estate administration may also involve management and transfer of assets through a trust. We counsel and assist trustees in administration of trusts both during the trust beneficiary’s lifetime and at their passing. Attorneys at McDermottWard are also familiar with administration of trusts that include estate tax planning, special needs beneficiaries, and other specialized provisions.

We also represent beneficiaries when probate or trust estates are not appropriately managed.

For all forms of administration, we prepare legal documents that may be needed to complete administration, for example, nonjudicial settlement agreements, transfer of business or other interests from the estate to beneficiaries, deeds for real estate, and court petitions to resolve disputes or to seek guidance from the court.

Determining whether probate or other estate administration is necessary and, if so, the appropriate steps in the process is critically important and can save the estate and beneficiaries time and money.

Please contact us to schedule a consultation.