You hear about simple wills all the time. Usually, it means someone executed 'just' a will, a will that took care of everything without the need for trusts. You know, simple. We find that a lot of people also think: simple will, simple probate, no problems, no worries. It's a natural enough assumpti...

When a promise leads to a will contest, no one wins. That may seem obvious to us, here, now, from a remove, yet it happens over and over again. We have a friend who did some pretty involved business planning for a family owned business in the Northeast about five years ago. It was somewhat complica...

Modern families have, well, modern problems, especially where wills are concerned. Consider this case, happening in New York right now. Brownstones in the West Village section of New York City are worth a small fortune. Today, Fifty-five years ago they weren't - and no one was exactly lined up to ...

This is a serious question that we get a lot: ‘when are estates closed?’ When is it finally done, wrapped up, no longer susceptible to challenges, no longer managing assets? A pretty important question, really, for trustees, beneficiaries, and interested parties on the outside looking in. Wh...

What happens when an executor or administrator has gone silent and despite your best efforts will not communicate with you. You've called. You've sent letters. You even tried certified mail. And yet, you receive no response. You begin to get a little suspicious. Why would the executor or administra...

  There are many types of disputes that could erupt when settling an estate, and one common type of dispute is a will contest. A will contest happens when one party files a will for probate that another party does not agree with. There could be any number of reasons why someone believ...

Today’s probate law question comes from Atlanta, Georgia. What happens when a business is started by a father and son, the father dies, but the business documents are not clear about whether the son owns any part of the business? To make things more complicated, the father has other children. Does...

Do you have a durable power of attorney in Georgia? If you answered “no”, then contact our office now.  Yes, now. So, why do I, a probate attorney, care if you have a durable power of attorney?  After all, a power of attorney has nothing to do with probate because it terminates upon death,...

What to do when Medicaid is threatening a lien on property? What can Medicaid do? What can you do? What if the estate property is not worth enough to cover the lien? This week’s question for Georgia probate lawyer Erik Broel comes from Marietta, Georgia. First, some background. Medicaid is a st...

This week’s probate question comes from someone in Atlanta, Georgia. Georgia probate law does not require that an heir be in Georgia, or even in the United States in order to consent to a probate petition, or participate in probating an estate. All that Georgia probate law requires is that the sig...

Having a name on the death certificate that does not match older records can pose a serious challenge for many things, including arranging for a military burial for the deceased soldier. How can you fix this situation? The first thing to do is to find his driver’s license, passport, social secu...