If you do not have a Revocable Living Trust, your estate will need to be probated or be small enough for a simple affidavit. Probate is the legal process required for estate administration and asset distribution. To read more specifically about what probate is, read our previous post "what is probate." One important thing about… Continue reading Oklahoma’s Simplified Probate
One of the most common questions I receive from clients is the question of beneficiary designations and how they relate to their Will or Trust. One important thing that must be said is that beneficiary designations, including IRA's, life insurance, annuities, bank accounts, etc., go outside probate and the trust. What is said in the… Continue reading Beneficiary Designations
A lot of clients seem to be under the misconception that, if your will is valid, self-explanatory, and clear as to your intent, then it does not need to be probated. However, your Last Will and Testament is not effective until it goes through probate. It does not matter if it is clear and unambiguous!… Continue reading Why Does My Will Need To Be Probated?
Most people know that Revocable Living Trusts are a great way to avoid probate. And if you don't, please read a previous blog about probate and how a trust can help here. On today's blog post, Skillern Law Firm is going to discuss other ways to avoid probate if you already have a trust, or… Continue reading Simple Ways to Avoid Probate
When Skillern Law Firm P.L.L.C. discusses the benefits of a will or a trust, inevitably probate comes up. We advise clients to avoid probate, since it is costly and a complicated process that can easily be avoided by a trust. Still, many clients ask us: "What is probate”? Our answer is: it depends. Basically, probate… Continue reading What is Probate and Why Should I Avoid It?
It is a new year, and everyone is listing things that they want to accomplish in 2012. You might be interested in a new healthy eating regimen, or workout schedule, but why not add updating your estate planning to that list? Twenty-twelve is the year of the estate plan! If you haven't established a way to… Continue reading Resolutions
Oklahoma has some unusual laws when it comes to step-children and half-blood relatives, especially in the intestate inheritance laws. Just as a reminder, intestate merely means that the person who passed away died without a will, and so the state's inheritance laws are in effect. Oklahoma's statute, Okla. Stat. tit. 84, § 213 (1994), is… Continue reading Stepchildren, adopted children, and half-blood relatives: No Child Left Behind.
