WHAT DO I NEED TO BRING TO MY PROBATE INFORMATIONAL AND PLANNING SESSION WITH YOUR HOMETOWN ATTORNEY?
As Your Hometown Attorney, we focus a large portion of our practice on probate and estate matters. While we certainly help with the planning in the Estate Planning portion of our practice, we also offer assistance to you and your loved ones when someone has departed this life. Whether you are looking to probate a will, you’ve lost your spouse and qualify for Year’s Support Proceedings, or need to administer an estate because there was no will, we’re here to guide you and help you through the process.
Today, we are offering this blog to help you prepare for your Probate Planning Session - Both to schedule your appointment as well as come to the meeting prepared to get the ball rolling.
Schedule Your Appointment
The first step in the probate process with our office is scheduling your planning session. You will be required to pay a planning session flat fee. That fee guarantees you the time on our calendar to spend with the Attorney discussing the estate, reviewing documents, and gathering information, as well as receiving initial advice. The fee must be paid in order to schedule your appointment. You can schedule your appointment by calling 706-359-3332 or by e-mailing our Client Services Director at clientservices@turnerjoneslegal.com.
Gather Your Documentation & Information and Bring it With You
There are a number of documents we will need in order to file your Petition with the appropriate probate court and to determine the status of any assets. We like to have a general idea of potential assets at the time of filing, which means we will need to know information at your planning session. While we are providing a list of things we commonly need at the initial meeting, it is always likely that we may require more documentation as we go through the process of preparing your Petition and representing you as the representative of the Estate in Court.
Generally speaking, these are the initial documents we will need to get started:
Certified copy of the Death Certificate of the individual who’s Estate we will be presenting to the probate court
If their spouse or any of their children predeceased (passed away prior to them), we will need certified copies of their death certificates as well
Original Last Will & Testament and/or Trust Agreement
Addresses, Tax/Map Parcel Numbers, or Deeds for any property you know of owned by your loved one at the time of their death
Any bills to any creditors, including medical facilities, credit cards, mortgages, etc.
A general idea of what bank accounts your loved one had, where they were located, and how these accounts were titled (sole owner, Pay on Death (POD), Joint with Rights of Survivorship, Joint, etc)
A list of potential individuals we need to notify
Help Us Determine Who We Need to Notify
The laws as it pertains to beneficiaries and heirs at law are fairly precise in Georgia. We will need to notify the closest of kin as determined by the statute. How far back (or out) we will need to go is determined by the statute and will be discussed in the meeting. Generally, however, we will need to know names, addresses, and phone numbers for the spouse and children of the departed loved one.
We will also inquire as to whether any of these individuals have passed away. If they have, we may also require the names, addresses, and phone numbers for their spouse(s) and/or children. This will require a certified copy of the death certificate of each person in the chain that has passed away in order to “perfect the record” with the Probate Court. If we can not determine heirs-at-law or beneficiaries at this first level, we will continue down the line as determined by the Georgia statute looking at parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins, etc., in turn. There will also be a candid discussion about family dynamics so we can best advise you on likely “speed bumps” in your process and what outcomes may potentially be.
Clear Your Voicemail Inbox and Check E-mails Regularly
Once we have decided that we are a good fit for each other, you have signed your retainer agreement, paid the requisite retainer fees in full, and provided our office with the required documentation, we will schedule your file for processing and begin drafting. During the drafting process (and throughout your representation) we will often reach out via phone or e-mail to ask questions and double check information before presenting the documents to you for review, signature, and filing. It is very important that you keep your voicemail box empty so that you can receive messages from us if you miss our call as well as receive documents from our office for your review or answer questions we may send via e-mail.
The probate process can be quite daunting and tedious. We’re here to take as much of that burden off of you as possible and to ease the process along the way. The best way to start is by beginning at the first meeting as prepared as you can be. We look forward to serving you!