What Is Probate Court All About?

A probate court is where probate issues are handled, right from admitting the probate petition until the conclusion of the probate process, usually transferring property or assets to heirs or beneficiaries.

In most states, probate courts are separate from other court systems. The typical probate court functions independently, with a presiding judge, a supervisor, and a few clerks. However, in some states the probate court can be combined with another court system with two departments, such as the Massachusetts Probate and Family Courts, which serve as one unit with two departments. This type of court system would not only handle probate matters, but also handle other issues, such as birth and death, marriage, child abuse, divorce and others.

How does the probate court work? After a person dies, the probate court would receive the "Petition for Letters of Administration," if the deceases had a will. If there was no will, then the "Petition for Probate of Will and Letters of Testamentary" would be filed. These form, along with the death certificate and a fee will be submitted to the court, with or without an attorney's help.

Then, the probate judge will conduct a hearing and issue "letters of administration to admit the will and appoint a personal representative for the estate. The judge decides whether or not all of the rules of probate have been followed when drawing up the will and then the will is authenticated.

The estate is then dealt with; the court inventories, appraises, and identifies all property and assets in the estate. The court will also appoint a guardian if the heir of heirs are minor or incapacitated in some way.

After the court determines the correct amount for the assets, tangible property such as cars, jewelry, etc, and the intangible property such as, bank accounts, stocks and bonds, etc, then it records the total assets in the record.
The probate court will then review and hear general petitions from anyone involved in the case, such as heirs or creditors. After the court reviews the assets, it will determine how much tax is owed by the estate and then pays it from the assets. After paying the taxes, the court analyzes how much debt to creditors is owed by the estate. The remaining assets are then used to pay the creditors against the estate.

After all the money has been paid to interested parties, the personal representative then disburses the remaining assets to the heirs or beneficiaries. The representative collects "Receipts and Waivers" from the heirs and beneficiaries and then files the "Declaration of Completion of Probate" to the probate court. The filing of this last paper concludes the probate process.

Although the primary function of probate court is to process estates after someone has died, there are many other ways that probate records can be useful. The probate court record can be used to research family histories by amateur or professional genealogists to look up places and names of people who have been long gone.