Reasons why probate action can take so long

Reasons why probate action can take so long

Probate can be looked at as a puzzle that needs help from many people to fit together. This is also an emotional time, which makes the process harder.

I must qualify that with a validly written Will, probate through the legal steps can move along very quickly. However, when there is no Will or parts of the puzzle are missing, probate can move very slowly.

For some estates the Texas probate process can take 3-6 months while other estates may take years to settle. There are four primary factors why probate can take so long.

When a person dies in Texas with assets in their name, those assets can be subject to probate. This is the legal process to establish who is in charge of the person’s assets after their death.

This person is called an executor, administrator, or personal representative.

If there is a Will, it must be validated by the Court, the heirs are determined and the executor must be appointed.

From there the executor must inventory the assets, debts must be paid, before assets can ultimately be distributed. And this all happens under a judge’s supervision.

There are a few factors that typically contribute to why probate takes so long. Here are the main ones.

Lots of beneficiaries or heirs. If the will does not name an independent executor or there is no Will, someone must come forward to manage the estate, all of the heirs or beneficiaries must agree on the personal representative for the estate.

All of the agreements from every beneficiary or heir must be received before the probate process can begin to see the courthouse steps. This can be a long and tedious process.

This is all, of course, harder if there are not good relationships, absent beneficiaries, or general distrust.

Executors, Administrators. Personal Representatives. Getting this person to engage a lawyer, file the application for probate, and be appointed by the court are the first relatively easy steps. But the probate process can get bogged down, if the executor is inefficient, disorganized or keeps sloppy records.

Always choose a fair-minded and organized person as your executor. Your beneficiaries may get their feelings hurt initially because they were not chosen, but they will thank you in the end. Sometimes the inefficiency is not the executor’s fault if the deceased person did not leave records of their assets. The digital age and paperless records are great until someone tries to put your life’s puzzle together without your help.

Always keep an inventory of your assets, especially accounts with no paper records.

Contested Wills. A valid Will often dictates the probate process. A good Will will name an independent executor and an alternate executor. But this does not mean that someone cannot contest the Will.

A contest may be brought by a party for many reasons, such as the contestant feels the person creating the Will did so without capacity or they were coerced into making certain distributions, etc.

But anytime, the normal probate process is disrupted and court hearings must be held to hear all the parties’ positions, everything slows down.

Unusual Assets or Assets that are not Easily Divided. Estates with unusual assets such as rare or extensive collections must be appraised and valued before they can be divided or sold. This also occurs with parcels of land, part of it has a house, another area has river access, etc.

How do these special things get divided? All parties must agree or it gets sold and money gets divided. All of these decisions and agreements take time and willingness by the parties to work together.

The probate process can be daunting, but it is easier when you leave a fair person in charge with a clear roadmap of how you want your estate distributed.

This article is provided as a service of the Law Office of Lasca A. Arnold, PLLC.

LASCA ARNOLD PENDLEY