In Lawrenceville, Georgia, probate is the process through which a Court decides if a will is valid or not.

As part of the probate procedure, the court in Lawrenceville, Georgia will decide the validity of the will, inventory the decedent's assets and debts, then, assuming everything is deemed to be in order, distribute the estate according to the will.

Wills frequently name a person as the executor of the estate. If not, the court in Lawrenceville, Georgia will name one. This is most often the adult individual who stands to inherit the most funds or property from the will.

The executor is the person accountable for initiating the probate proceedings. The person who would inherit the most from the will is appointed, because they have the greatest motivation to move the process along as quickly as possible, so they can get their inheritance.

Duties of the Executor in Lawrenceville, Georgia

The executor has many duties regarding the will. First, they have to truly initiate the probate proceedings, which must be finalized before the will is effectuated.

Furthermore, the executor has to make sure that the decedent's relatives and other people named in the will have notice of the testator's death, typically through the filing of a copy of the official death certificate.

Because people who stand to inherit from the testator may be scattered around the country, or even the world, contacting them is sometimes challenging. One of the responsibilities of the executor is to collect a list of everyone who is entitled to inherit from the decedent, so attempts to contact them can be made. They additionally have to account for all the testator's debts and assets.

Because the executor serves as the living representation of the decedent's estate, they are solely accountable for proving the validity of the will. This is a lot of work, but because executors are typically chosen based on how much they stand to inherit from a will once its validity is confirmed, they have a good incentive to see the process to finalization.

How Can A Lawrenceville, Georgia Lawyer Help?

Because of the difficulties involved in probate, it would be smart to hire a reliable Lawrenceville, Georgia probate lawyer, especially if you are the executor of an estate and unsure how to proceed.