August 5, 2025 • 30 mins
Death shouldn't mean chaos for your loved ones, yet without proper planning, that's exactly what happens. The probate process—that legal maze families navigate after someone dies—doesn't have to be overwhelming. In our latest episode, Hunt Law Firm attorneys Alex Hunt and Bri Holcombe breaks down this often-misunderstood area of law with remarkable clarity.
Hunt Law Firm is proud to announce our expansion into probate law alongside our established family law practice. This natural extension allows us to help clients through life's most difficult transitions with the same compassion and expertise they've come to expect from our team. Have questions about probate or want to ensure your estate plan protects your loved ones? Reach out to us at 832-315-5494 or visit familylawyerkaty.com to start the conversation.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome back to the Texas Family Lawyer podcast.
Today I am happy to be joinedby Brie Holcomb, associate
attorney at Hunt Law Firm.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
So usually in our podcast, we talk about all
things family law, divorce,custody, adoptions, name changes
, child support.
Today we're going to bediscussing something a little
bit different, and for a reasonwe're going to be discussing
probate and everything thatTexans would need to know about
probate.
And the reason why is because,as of this month, upon release,
(00:40):
we're going to be opening ourprobate practice where, as a
value added service for ourcurrent clients and for new
clients, we wanted to add thisservice because we have folks
that will come to us, that haveformed a relationship with us
and that will have somebody intheir family who's passed and
they trust us.
And they trust us and we wantedto provide this service to them
(01:03):
to help them get through theloss of a loved one with as
little stress as possible.
So Bree will be leading up ourprobate section and I'm happy to
have you here today.
Thank you.
A lot of family lawyers don'tknow a lot about probate, even
though they are very related tofamily law, but tell us just
(01:30):
generally a little bit aboutwhat probate is and what it
means.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Yeah, so probate is the process that we go through
when someone passes away toadminister their estate, meaning
, get property to where it needsto go, follow the directions of
the will and ensure that all ofthe decedent, the deceased
person's assets, are accountedfor and then distributed.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Okay, so somebody in your family passes away.
They've got bank accounts,they've got a house, they've got
a car, they've got a watch thatwas given to them from their
grandfather.
Does all of that have to passthrough probate?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
So it really just depends.
What we would do is we talk toeach client and evaluate the
estate of the decedent.
So there are certain probateassets and there are non-probate
assets.
A non-probate asset is an assetthat will be dispersed to a
beneficiary because it waseither payable on death,
transferable on death.
For a home, if there was atransfer on death deed,
probate's not going to be neededin order to change legal title,
(02:27):
because we have a vehicle thathas already done that.
So there's a couple instanceswhere you know we would need to
go through probate and it wouldbe required to administer the
decedent's estate.
First, if there's accounts thatsomeone does not have access to.
Let's say we have two spousesand there's a separate bank
account that was not payable ondeath and one spouse passed away
(02:48):
.
If that spouse is not able togain access to that account, we
need to give them a tool and avehicle to be able to access it
and disperse it in manner whichthe will says.
Second, if we have any sort ofmarital home without a transfer
on death deed and this is areally big misconception in
Texas law a homestead is notgoing to pass automatically to
(03:08):
the other owner.
So, especially in the divorceprocess.
You know we have two owners ofa home.
They each own that 50-50.
That's the same thing for ourmarried couples.
If you and your wife own a hometogether and your wife passes
away, you must go through aformal legal process to change
title over into your name.
It does not happenautomatically.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
So let me stop you there, because we've talked
about this in previous podcastepisodes.
For quite a while now, we'vedone estate planning.
You're our lead estate planningand now probate attorney.
So when folks come to us,they're looking to create a will
, but then our simple estateplanning package has a number of
other documents that areincluded in it.
One of the documents that wefrequently tell people that they
(03:52):
need to do is called a transferupon death deed.
What does that do and how doesthat help people in this process
the probate process after theypass?
How does it make it a littlebit easier?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah.
So what a transfer on deathdeed does is it says when I pass
away, I automatically give myinterest in my home to another
individual.
So if we have, you know, just aregular family with two spouses
and one kid, what we would dois we'd say I one spouse let's
just say the husband, forexample give my interest in the
home to the wife when I passaway.
(04:25):
The wife would do the samething.
Then what we would say is okay,now, if both of us pass away,
we're going to give this home toour child.
The way that it works is youwould have the deed filed and
recorded with a county clerk.
That's where the deed liveswhen you purchased a home.
That's where the deeds to yourhome also lie.
(04:45):
When someone passes away, whathappens is that deed is already
set in stone.
So when a spouse passes, whatyou're able to do is follow
what's called an affidavit ofdeath, which is a sworn
statement saying my spousereally did die, and also provide
a copy of the death certificateto the county.
And then, boom, automaticallyyou have 100% ownership of that
home and also provide a copy ofthe death certificate to the
county.
And then, boom, automaticallyyou have 100% ownership of that
(05:08):
home and you do not have to gothrough the probate process.
Okay, unless there's otherassets Unless there's other
assets, of course, which wedevalue.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
So that one would need to go through the probate
process.
And you know, colleagues, thatwe have that are probate lawyers
and clients that will come tous.
They want to minimize, we wantto minimize the amount of stuff
that has to go through theprobate process.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
That's why planning is so important.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
So why is that?
Why do we want to minimizewhat's going through the probate
process?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
I think that's just what regular everyday people
want to do, is they don't wantto have to go to probate court.
Now it is very different thansome other cases that the public
may have dealings with, likefamily law, you can represent
yourself in a family law case.
You can represent yourself in alandlord-tenant case.
(05:55):
In probate court you must havean attorney.
So people want to try and avoidprobate so that their loved
ones don't have to hire anattorney.
Probate so that their lovedones don't have to hire an
attorney.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
However, the Texas legal system especially for
probate, is designed to be easyif you planned correctly and
took care of your estate, okay.
So how do we get as many itemsas possible to not pass through
probate?
I know that one of the ways youmentioned is you can have your
bank account payable upon deathto somebody.
Now if you're on a joint bankaccount with your spouse, then
(06:27):
you don't need to do thatbecause they're already on it,
but say you're a single personor your spouse has already
passed away.
What do you have to do to makesure that doesn't pass through
the probate process?
You go to the bank and you tellthem I want this money to go to
a certain person when I die.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, so depending upon your financial institution,
most financial institutionsallow for payable on death
accounts.
It's not something that youjust get to click around and
find.
You must reach out to your bankif they don't make it easy for
you.
For example, I have an Allyhigh yield savings account.
I didn't know that I could makeit payable on death, but I was
clicking around one day and wasable to find that.
(07:05):
Get everything updated.
So I always encourage clientsto review their entire estate.
You know, down to retirementaccounts, investment accounts,
that they have the home, thevehicle.
We've got an alternative forthe vehicle too, which I can
touch on, just so we canevaluate what can pass outside
of probate.
Most things we can get to passoutside of that process.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Okay, so you have somebody, they're alive, they've
come to us or another estateplanning lawyer and I can't
implore people that arelistening to this or watching
this go and visit with an estateplanning lawyer and get your
affairs in order in advance,because doing that is going to
save your loved ones a lot ofstress and grief and money,
(07:50):
because the process takes awhile.
You don't want them to have tobe dealing with chaos in the
aftermath of your death.
So that process has happened.
Somebody has passed away, theyhave bank accounts that have
been paid out upon death, theirhouse has been transferred per
transfer upon death deed and nowthey have a will.
(08:11):
They come to us for a probate.
What do they need to know andwhat are we looking for in their
will?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So really, what we're doing first at the outset is
evaluating whether or notprobate is needed.
In that example that you gave,probate might not be required.
But let's say we have someonecome to us and maybe again it's
that spouse example where wehave a husband and a wife and no
transfer on death deed.
Well, what we need to do is wewould need to start the probate
(08:43):
process in order to change legaltitle over for that spouse
that's surviving, so that he orshe owns it 100%.
So one of the very first thingswe're looking for, once we
identify if probate is necessary, is do they have an original
will?
Do they have a will just ingeneral?
Just in general.
And the way that we handle allof our probate at this point in
(09:04):
time is uncontested.
So what that means is that I'mlooking for a valid will, I want
it to be self-proving, I wantthere to be an independent
executor and I want there to beno bond.
So let me, let me kind of tellyou what those things mean.
An original will means thevalid original will that the
testator signed.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
What we call wet signature not scanned, not
photocopied.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
You know, if they have a copy, that's okay, we can
certainly deal with that, butit just kind of.
It doesn't complicate theprocess, but there's just
additional steps that need to betaken.
And the second thing is thatit's self-proving.
That means that there is anaffidavit attached to the will
stating the will is valid andcomplies with Texas law.
(09:50):
It meets the requirements, ithas two witnesses, it was signed
by a notary, it was signed bythe testator.
Again, if we don't have that,there are just additional steps
that need to be taken in orderto probate the will.
We also want a namedindependent executor.
That means the person who isnamed to be in charge of your
affairs is the person who cameto me to be the client.
(10:12):
And then, third, that there isno bond, meaning we don't have
to pay a bond to the court inorder for the probate process to
begin.
Most wills are set up so thatall of those requirements are
met.
Especially if you do an estateplanning package with the Hunt
Law Firm, we make sure thatthose four things are there so
that we can service our clientson the back end when the time
comes.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So you mentioned I mean having the original will
does simplify the process alittle bit.
Sometime I've read, I've gottenon Reddit.
I've seen people saying what doI do with my will?
What do you recommend thatpeople do with their original
will?
I've heard of some people likeputting it in their freezer in a
Ziploc bag, which I don'tnecessarily understand.
Other people will put in a safe, other people will give it to a
(10:54):
loved one.
What do you recommend?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
So I just recommend keeping it in a safe place.
That's what you ultimately wantto do is have a place where
it's safe and where someoneknows that it's going to be.
If you put your will in thefreezer, most people are not
going to check that your will isin the freezer when the time
comes.
So one alerting a loved one ofwhere your documents are I have
(11:17):
people store them in gun safes.
Are I have people store them ingun safes?
That's okay, as long aseverybody knows what the
password is, because if youcan't get into that when someone
passes away, it's useless.
No safety deposit boxes, that'sa big no-no.
I would recommend getting somesort of firebox or some sort of
fire bag.
That's what I have personallyto store all of your documents,
(11:37):
and it can be everything fromyour will, power of attorney,
even to your passport or yoursocial security card.
I like the idea of a bag ratherthan a box, so that if
something happens and you needto, you're home and you can take
it out, grab that bag and thenyou're free to go and get one on
Amazon for like 30 bucks.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Yeah, yeah, they're not expensive, and I've done the
same thing, so okay.
So you have come to us and I'vedone the same thing, so okay.
So you have come to us.
We've found that this is anuncontested case because all of
those bullet points are met.
What is the first step in theprobate process?
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, so the first step in the probate process is
going to be filing anapplication for probate.
Essentially, what that means isthat we put the court on notice
that we're bringing a will tothem to probate.
So a will and this mightconfuse some people a will is
presumed invalid until it isadmitted to probate.
That doesn't mean that it'sactually invalid, but that's the
(12:29):
presumption that the law has.
So until it's proved up in theprobate court, it is presumed
invalid.
If someone wants to challengethe validity of that will, they
must do so before the probateprocess begins.
Once it's admitted into probate, they're going to have a much
difficult burden trying to, youknow, overturn that.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
So let me, let me ask you this you know, mom has
passed away.
She lived in Houston and theson is the independent executor.
He lives in San Antonio.
Where are we filing?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
We're filing in Houston.
We're going to file at theplace where the decedent lived.
Often that's going to be theplace that they passed away to.
But let's say in that examplethe decedent lived here in
Houston.
She went to visit her son inSan Antonio, passed away there.
It's still going to take placein Houston.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Okay, all right, thanks.
What's the next step?
Speaker 2 (13:22):
After we follow the application with the court,
we're going to do what's calledcitation by posting.
That essentially means we'regoing to post at the courthouse
that the decedent's will hasbeen processed and we are going
to be admitting it into probateat some point in time.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
It's kind of a vestige of days past where the
important news was given to thecommunity on the courthouse
steps and there's a few thingslike that in the law where you
know when they've, you know, gotauctions.
It's at the courthouse steps on, you know, a certain day of the
month.
So I know in Fort Bend Countythey literally have like a
digital computer screen whereeverything is posted, but it's
(14:03):
just different county by county.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah, and same thing, too, goes for the county's
process for getting the originalwill to them.
So that's why it's so importantagain to provide your attorney
with the original will, becauseit has to go to the courthouse
and it has to be on file withthe court.
The clerk of the court isbasically the determining
individual on whether or not thewill is original or it's a copy
(14:26):
.
It's very important.
They have a lot of power andeven if we send them an original
will and they say no, I believeit's a copy, we have to comply
with the steps that they havelaid out for us.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Okay, so we've sent the original will to the court.
The clerk has determinedwhether it's original or not.
What do we do next?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
So once we get the okay, then what we're going to
do is we're going to scheduleour prove up.
But before we can have ourprove up we have to send to the
court proposed orders.
The first is going to be anorder admitting will to probate
court proposed orders.
The first is going to be anorder admitting will to probate.
That is essentially thedocument that the judge is going
to sign, validating the willand saying this will has been
admitted into probate and thiscase can begin.
(15:10):
The second thing that we'regoing to do is submit what's
called a proof of deathtestimony.
That is just laying outjurisdiction requirements and
requirements of the estate'scode that this will can be
admitted into probate.
And, lastly, we're going tosubmit a proposed oath.
That is an oath that theexecutor is going to sign,
(15:31):
saying yes, I will carry outbasically the wishes of the will
.
I will comply with the EstatesCode in ensuring that all
requirements are met Once wefile those proposed orders.
They're not signed by attorneys,they're not signed by clients
or executors yet.
Then the judge will say okay,you can have your prove-up
hearing.
That's where we go and it'skind of like repeating the same
(15:53):
things over again.
This is the jurisdictionrequirements.
We have met them.
We can admit this will intoprobate.
Once the judge says, okay, youdid a great job, we're going to
admit this will into probate.
Then they will sign the orderadmitting will to probate.
We will sign the proof of deathtestimony as well as the oath,
and then what happens is we cankind of begin the back half of
(16:15):
the probate process.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
And I was actually in court on a different case when
you were doing one of these.
It's a fairly straightforwardprocess once you're actually in
court.
Correct?
Like, how long does this takefrom the moment that the judge
starts talking to you until themoment that you're done?
Typically?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Depending upon the case, a client or the attorney
can prove up the testimony, soif the attorney is proving it up
, I would say it takes less thanone minute.
In probate court, we havewhat's called a one-minute
prove-up, so that you can get inand you can get out.
Sometimes the clients, too, areable to complete that
one-minute prove-up If we have acopy of a will.
(16:54):
That's going to requireadditional testimony, so it's
going to take a little bitlonger.
Even then, though, it's notgoing to be more than a 10, 15
minute process.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Okay, well, very good .
Yeah, it's different thanfamily law, because you need
your client's testimony andfamily law to prove something up
.
Okay, so what comes next?
And is that the point, thatthen the executor can start to
take some actions on the estateor there's still additional
steps?
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Correct.
So once the judge puts theirwet signature on the order,
admitting will to probate, thenthe executor is able to act.
But oftentimes they're notgoing to be able to do much
without what's called letterstestamentary, that is, letters
that are issued by the courtgiving this individual or this
executor the power to act, totake documents to the bank and
(17:41):
say look, I am the executor, itis official.
So now I need to get thisaccount, I need to access it, I
need to administer it.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
So from the moment and of course, lawyer caveat,
lawyer disclaimer every case isdifferent.
But from the moment thatsomebody comes to us and says I
have a loved one that passedaway, here's I have all the.
But from the moment thatsomebody comes to us and says I
have a loved one that passedaway, here's I have all the
documents.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Until the moment that you can go to prove-ups the
citation by posting has to be onfile for 10 days before you can
have your prove-up, so I guessin a best case scenario could it
be two weeks.
(18:29):
Maybe, but that's probably notrealistic, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
What's next.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
So, after we get the letters of testimony, then what
we're going to do is we're goingto send notices.
These are notices to creditors.
The first what we're going todo is we're going to send
notices.
These are notices to creditors.
The first, what we're going todo is send a general notice to
creditors, just sending throughwhat's called the daily court
review, a publication, basically, of this individual's estate
has been entered into probateand if you have a claim, here's
(18:57):
your opportunity.
We're also going to submitspecific notice to creditors for
any sort of secured property,that is, property that's going
to be backed by some sort ofcollateral, like a mortgage or a
vehicle loan.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
So not credit cards, not unsecured loans.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Correct.
So we're not sending specificnotices to American Express or
Chase Visa, correct?
That would be part of thatgeneral notice to creditors.
The burden would fall upon themto go and look and see if they
have a claim.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
And for those who don't know and most people that
aren't lawyers or are involvedin the legal field probably
don't know this the Daily CourtReview is the, I guess, the
official newspaper ofpublications and postings, in
the greater Houston area atleast, and it's a newspaper that
I have only ever seen at thecourthouse and at the law
schools, and it does have somenews articles in it, but the
(19:53):
real purpose of this newspaperis to put things like postings
in it banks and credit cardcompanies.
They are looking through thesethings, looking for people that
maybe owe them some money.
They want to know about thisand then they want to get in
(20:14):
line so that they canpotentially get paid.
What's the next step?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So the next step is going to be evaluating whether
or not we need to do aninventory or if we can do an
affidavit in lieu of inventory.
So the first question that I'mgoing to ask is are there any
unsecured debts?
An unsecured debt is somethingthat's again not secured by
collateral, different from amortgage or a vehicle loan.
This is outstanding credit carddebt or medical bills.
(20:40):
If we have unsecured debt, whatwe're going to do is we're
going to file an inventory ofall of our assets.
We're going to look at the fairmarket value of everything that
we have, place that on theinventory and file it with the
court.
If we only have secured debt soa mortgage, for example then
what we can do is we can file anaffidavit in lieu of inventory,
(21:01):
meaning that we do not have tofile a formal inventory with the
court because we have nounsecured outstanding debt.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Okay, well, that simplifies matters a bit.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Absolutely.
Especially if, again, youprepared and you took care of
your estate and were able tominimize debts, this process can
be very, very simple.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
And how are you determining what those if you
have to do an inventory, how areyou determining what those
values are have to do aninventory?
How are you determining whatthose values are?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
The values are going to be the fair market value as
of the date of the decedent'sdeath.
So we're going to look at whatwas that value worth at the time
this individual passed away.
Of course, it can complicatethings if you wait a while to do
probate, because we're going tohave to look back maybe a year
or two, but we can make thathappen.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Okay.
And does probate have to bestarted immediately upon the
person's death?
I know you said that's a bestpractice, but what if somebody
waits six months or a year?
Is that okay?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
It's absolutely okay, and what we want to do first is
make sure that you're takingcare of yourself.
You know this is a hard process, especially losing a loved one,
so don't feel the need to jumpin.
If, for some reason, you don'thave access and it's becoming
detrimental, then yes, we wantto start that process.
But you can actually file intoprobate up to four years of the
(22:18):
date of the decedent's death.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
We don't recommend waiting that long.
Sure, no.
And I know that sometimes we'vehad clients that have thought
that everything was able to passoutside of probate and then
they realize, oh, there'sanother account that didn't pass
outside of probate.
Then they have to start theprocess and so that might be the
reason for the delay, right,okay?
So that is that, the completeprobate process.
(22:42):
What do we do next?
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Once we either file the inventory of the affidavit
in lieu of inventory, what we'regoing to do is we're going to
file an affidavit of 308 noticeto beneficiaries.
That's just going to state tothe beneficiaries the will was
admitted into probate.
You want to put along a copy ofthe order admitting will to
probate, and a best practicewould be to provide the
inventory as well.
Once that has been completed,then we can move into actual
(23:08):
administration of the estate, sopaying off debts, giving
property to those individualswho are entitled to it under the
will.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Okay, what do we do next to actually administer the
estate?
So, once all that's done andnow it's time to take care of
business, close everything out,move funds.
What does the executor, theperson who's come to us, our
client, what do they need to donext?
Speaker 2 (23:33):
So again, that's just going to depend upon the type
of estate that they have.
Let's say, we have did anaffidavit in lieu of inventory,
we only have a mortgage and thespouse is.
It's that situation where onespouse passed away and one is
living.
In that instance what we woulddo is we would prepare,
basically, an executor's deedthat gives the interest of the
(23:56):
estate to that spouse so thatthey have that property 100%.
That's just one thing that wedo.
It also allows the individualto start paying off any debts or
any claims that are owed.
You know, first is funeralexpenses.
That is something that anindividual is entitled to be
reimbursed for if they paid thatout of their pocket from the
(24:18):
estate up to $15,000.
The same goes for last illnessexpenses up to $15,000.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
So, to use the example that I used before,
where you have a mother that haspassed away, the son is the
executor and the son pays forhis mom's funeral expenses and
their $15,000.
He can get reimbursed for thatonce the probate process has
started.
Correct, okay, all right, great, and then.
(24:47):
So what happens next?
You've got a credit card,you've got a student loan,
you've got a mortgage that needsto be paid.
Who's getting paid and in whatorder?
Because there's got to be somesort of order to it, otherwise
everybody's just going to beclamoring over the money that's
left in this estate, so one.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
It depends on the types of claims that were filed
in the estate.
So a creditor basically bearsthe burden to file and say, hey,
someone owes me money.
The estate's code lays out theorder in which claimants are to
be paid, so I've got them listedbecause I do not have them
memorized.
The first is going to be anysort of estate administration
and estate management expenses.
(25:27):
That could be things likepaying for an attorney to come
and work this for you, and thosecan be reimbursements the
vehicle loan After that childsupport.
That's something that family lawyou know is an intersection of
(25:49):
probate.
If your ex-husband passed away,he was paying child support and
you are still owed and entitledchild support, you can file a
claim on behalf to get any ofthat unpaid child support.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Yeah.
So just to add a little bit,put a little bit more on that
Say the child is six years oldand the obligor say it's the
father passes away, how wouldyou calculate the amount that
would be?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
owed in child support , based upon what they are
currently paying now versus howlong that obligation is going to
be.
So if they have a 17-year-old,it's until that child reaches
the age of 18 or graduates fromhigh school.
The same would be if they havea 5-year-old.
How much money is it going totake for this child to reach 18
or graduate from high school,whichever comes later?
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Okay and I can't stress this enough that if you
are an obligee meaning you are asurviving parent and you were
owed child support during thelife of that child, you have to
make a claim for that money.
Don't expect that anybody isgoing to say well wait, there's
a child here and there's a momor dad that still needs to get
(27:02):
paid that child support.
You've got to preferably get alawyer, but you've got to make a
claim there, stake your claimto the money so you can get in
line.
Otherwise nobody's going to bedoing you any favors.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
What's next?
Who's next in line?
Speaker 2 (27:16):
So next in line are just a bunch of other unique, I
would say, types of claims, butthe catch-all is going to be any
other unsecured claims, that'sthe absolute last that's going
to be paid out.
So credit cards, medical bills,any other debts let's say I
loaned you money that would allfall within that.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
So American Express Visa MasterCard, they're getting
paid last.
Right, you're getting paidchild support before you pay in
Visa, Exactly Okay, well, Iappreciate that.
Is there anything else on theprocess that we missed?
I don't believe so.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Of course, there can be different nuances depending
upon the estate, depending uponwhether or not you have the
original.
Will you have a copy?
It's not signed by witnesses.
We can handle pretty much allof those things as they come.
So just know that maybe some ofthese things don't apply.
There are some nuances that youjust have to look out for.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
So if somebody's going to you know they have a
loved one that passed away, theycome to Hunt Law Firm.
They call our office.
What can they expect in thisprocess?
Is there anything unique thatthey should understand what the
process is going to be like fromthe moment they pick up the
phone or write a message on ourwebsite to get in touch with us?
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Yeah.
So what we're going to do iswe're going to evaluate on the
outset whether or not it'scontested.
So that means our intake teamis going to ask a set of
questions.
In the event that the answersare no, or you know they don't
meet our structure, we wouldthen need to refer you to
another attorney, but someonewill be able to help you.
It might not be our firm, butwe can get you in touch with
(28:47):
someone.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Okay, wonderful.
Well, I appreciate youexplaining this.
This is a really important areathat we're breaking into and I
know it's going to be a reallyimportant added service for our
clients, and I know we talkedabout this off camera before.
But we just enjoy helpingpeople that are in need in our
(29:08):
community, whether that be Katyor League City, cypress or Sugar
Land, where we work in thecommunity, we live in the
community and it makes us enjoyour jobs that, when somebody
comes to us and is in need anddoesn't know where to go, is
that we can be that person thatcan give them not only the legal
expertise but also thecompassion to help get them
(29:32):
through the process.
So I'm glad you're taking thison.
I appreciate you explaining thisand if anybody out there does
have any other questions, you'rewelcome to leave a comment on
this video.
You're welcome to give us acall at 832-315-5494.
Our website isfamilylawyerkatiecom and you're
(29:53):
welcome to leave a message onthere and we could set up a
consultation and we can talk alittle bit more about the
probate process or, if you havea family issue, we can talk
about it there.
Our website also has a ton ofinformation about not only
probate matters, but also familylaw matters as well.
So check that out, check outall the resources we have on our
website.
Brie, again thank you forjoining me.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
All right, until next time, thanks everybody.
Welcome back to the Texas Family Lawyer podcast.
Today I am happy to be joinedby Brie Holcomb, associate
attorney at Hunt Law Firm.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
So usually in our podcast, we talk about all
things family law, divorce,custody, adoptions, name changes
, child support.
Today we're going to bediscussing something a little
bit different, and for a reasonwe're going to be discussing
probate and everything thatTexans would need to know about
probate.
And the reason why is because,as of this month, upon release,
(00:40):
we're going to be opening ourprobate practice where, as a
value added service for ourcurrent clients and for new
clients, we wanted to add thisservice because we have folks
that will come to us, that haveformed a relationship with us
and that will have somebody intheir family who's passed and
they trust us.
And they trust us and we wantedto provide this service to them
(01:03):
to help them get through theloss of a loved one with as
little stress as possible.
So Bree will be leading up ourprobate section and I'm happy to
have you here today.
Thank you.
A lot of family lawyers don'tknow a lot about probate, even
though they are very related tofamily law, but tell us just
(01:30):
generally a little bit aboutwhat probate is and what it
means.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Yeah, so probate is the process that we go through
when someone passes away toadminister their estate, meaning
, get property to where it needsto go, follow the directions of
the will and ensure that all ofthe decedent, the deceased
person's assets, are accountedfor and then distributed.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Okay, so somebody in your family passes away.
They've got bank accounts,they've got a house, they've got
a car, they've got a watch thatwas given to them from their
grandfather.
Does all of that have to passthrough probate?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
So it really just depends.
What we would do is we talk toeach client and evaluate the
estate of the decedent.
So there are certain probateassets and there are non-probate
assets.
A non-probate asset is an assetthat will be dispersed to a
beneficiary because it waseither payable on death,
transferable on death.
For a home, if there was atransfer on death deed,
probate's not going to be neededin order to change legal title,
(02:27):
because we have a vehicle thathas already done that.
So there's a couple instanceswhere you know we would need to
go through probate and it wouldbe required to administer the
decedent's estate.
First, if there's accounts thatsomeone does not have access to.
Let's say we have two spousesand there's a separate bank
account that was not payable ondeath and one spouse passed away
(02:48):
.
If that spouse is not able togain access to that account, we
need to give them a tool and avehicle to be able to access it
and disperse it in manner whichthe will says.
Second, if we have any sort ofmarital home without a transfer
on death deed and this is areally big misconception in
Texas law a homestead is notgoing to pass automatically to
(03:08):
the other owner.
So, especially in the divorceprocess.
You know we have two owners ofa home.
They each own that 50-50.
That's the same thing for ourmarried couples.
If you and your wife own a hometogether and your wife passes
away, you must go through aformal legal process to change
title over into your name.
It does not happenautomatically.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
So let me stop you there, because we've talked
about this in previous podcastepisodes.
For quite a while now, we'vedone estate planning.
You're our lead estate planningand now probate attorney.
So when folks come to us,they're looking to create a will
, but then our simple estateplanning package has a number of
other documents that areincluded in it.
One of the documents that wefrequently tell people that they
(03:52):
need to do is called a transferupon death deed.
What does that do and how doesthat help people in this process
the probate process after theypass?
How does it make it a littlebit easier?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah.
So what a transfer on deathdeed does is it says when I pass
away, I automatically give myinterest in my home to another
individual.
So if we have, you know, just aregular family with two spouses
and one kid, what we would dois we'd say I one spouse let's
just say the husband, forexample give my interest in the
home to the wife when I passaway.
(04:25):
The wife would do the samething.
Then what we would say is okay,now, if both of us pass away,
we're going to give this home toour child.
The way that it works is youwould have the deed filed and
recorded with a county clerk.
That's where the deed liveswhen you purchased a home.
That's where the deeds to yourhome also lie.
(04:45):
When someone passes away, whathappens is that deed is already
set in stone.
So when a spouse passes, whatyou're able to do is follow
what's called an affidavit ofdeath, which is a sworn
statement saying my spousereally did die, and also provide
a copy of the death certificateto the county.
And then, boom, automaticallyyou have 100% ownership of that
home and also provide a copy ofthe death certificate to the
county.
And then, boom, automaticallyyou have 100% ownership of that
(05:08):
home and you do not have to gothrough the probate process.
Okay, unless there's otherassets Unless there's other
assets, of course, which wedevalue.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
So that one would need to go through the probate
process.
And you know, colleagues, thatwe have that are probate lawyers
and clients that will come tous.
They want to minimize, we wantto minimize the amount of stuff
that has to go through theprobate process.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
That's why planning is so important.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
So why is that?
Why do we want to minimizewhat's going through the probate
process?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
I think that's just what regular everyday people
want to do, is they don't wantto have to go to probate court.
Now it is very different thansome other cases that the public
may have dealings with, likefamily law, you can represent
yourself in a family law case.
You can represent yourself in alandlord-tenant case.
(05:55):
In probate court you must havean attorney.
So people want to try and avoidprobate so that their loved
ones don't have to hire anattorney.
Probate so that their lovedones don't have to hire an
attorney.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
However, the Texas legal system especially for
probate, is designed to be easyif you planned correctly and
took care of your estate, okay.
So how do we get as many itemsas possible to not pass through
probate?
I know that one of the ways youmentioned is you can have your
bank account payable upon deathto somebody.
Now if you're on a joint bankaccount with your spouse, then
(06:27):
you don't need to do thatbecause they're already on it,
but say you're a single personor your spouse has already
passed away.
What do you have to do to makesure that doesn't pass through
the probate process?
You go to the bank and you tellthem I want this money to go to
a certain person when I die.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, so depending upon your financial institution,
most financial institutionsallow for payable on death
accounts.
It's not something that youjust get to click around and
find.
You must reach out to your bankif they don't make it easy for
you.
For example, I have an Allyhigh yield savings account.
I didn't know that I could makeit payable on death, but I was
clicking around one day and wasable to find that.
(07:05):
Get everything updated.
So I always encourage clientsto review their entire estate.
You know, down to retirementaccounts, investment accounts,
that they have the home, thevehicle.
We've got an alternative forthe vehicle too, which I can
touch on, just so we canevaluate what can pass outside
of probate.
Most things we can get to passoutside of that process.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Okay, so you have somebody, they're alive, they've
come to us or another estateplanning lawyer and I can't
implore people that arelistening to this or watching
this go and visit with an estateplanning lawyer and get your
affairs in order in advance,because doing that is going to
save your loved ones a lot ofstress and grief and money,
(07:50):
because the process takes awhile.
You don't want them to have tobe dealing with chaos in the
aftermath of your death.
So that process has happened.
Somebody has passed away, theyhave bank accounts that have
been paid out upon death, theirhouse has been transferred per
transfer upon death deed and nowthey have a will.
(08:11):
They come to us for a probate.
What do they need to know andwhat are we looking for in their
will?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So really, what we're doing first at the outset is
evaluating whether or notprobate is needed.
In that example that you gave,probate might not be required.
But let's say we have someonecome to us and maybe again it's
that spouse example where wehave a husband and a wife and no
transfer on death deed.
Well, what we need to do is wewould need to start the probate
(08:43):
process in order to change legaltitle over for that spouse
that's surviving, so that he orshe owns it 100%.
So one of the very first thingswe're looking for, once we
identify if probate is necessary, is do they have an original
will?
Do they have a will just ingeneral?
Just in general.
And the way that we handle allof our probate at this point in
(09:04):
time is uncontested.
So what that means is that I'mlooking for a valid will, I want
it to be self-proving, I wantthere to be an independent
executor and I want there to beno bond.
So let me, let me kind of tellyou what those things mean.
An original will means thevalid original will that the
testator signed.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
What we call wet signature not scanned, not
photocopied.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
You know, if they have a copy, that's okay, we can
certainly deal with that, butit just kind of.
It doesn't complicate theprocess, but there's just
additional steps that need to betaken.
And the second thing is thatit's self-proving.
That means that there is anaffidavit attached to the will
stating the will is valid andcomplies with Texas law.
(09:50):
It meets the requirements, ithas two witnesses, it was signed
by a notary, it was signed bythe testator.
Again, if we don't have that,there are just additional steps
that need to be taken in orderto probate the will.
We also want a namedindependent executor.
That means the person who isnamed to be in charge of your
affairs is the person who cameto me to be the client.
(10:12):
And then, third, that there isno bond, meaning we don't have
to pay a bond to the court inorder for the probate process to
begin.
Most wills are set up so thatall of those requirements are
met.
Especially if you do an estateplanning package with the Hunt
Law Firm, we make sure thatthose four things are there so
that we can service our clientson the back end when the time
comes.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So you mentioned I mean having the original will
does simplify the process alittle bit.
Sometime I've read, I've gottenon Reddit.
I've seen people saying what doI do with my will?
What do you recommend thatpeople do with their original
will?
I've heard of some people likeputting it in their freezer in a
Ziploc bag, which I don'tnecessarily understand.
Other people will put in a safe, other people will give it to a
(10:54):
loved one.
What do you recommend?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
So I just recommend keeping it in a safe place.
That's what you ultimately wantto do is have a place where
it's safe and where someoneknows that it's going to be.
If you put your will in thefreezer, most people are not
going to check that your will isin the freezer when the time
comes.
So one alerting a loved one ofwhere your documents are I have
(11:17):
people store them in gun safes.
Are I have people store them ingun safes?
That's okay, as long aseverybody knows what the
password is, because if youcan't get into that when someone
passes away, it's useless.
No safety deposit boxes, that'sa big no-no.
I would recommend getting somesort of firebox or some sort of
fire bag.
That's what I have personallyto store all of your documents,
(11:37):
and it can be everything fromyour will, power of attorney,
even to your passport or yoursocial security card.
I like the idea of a bag ratherthan a box, so that if
something happens and you needto, you're home and you can take
it out, grab that bag and thenyou're free to go and get one on
Amazon for like 30 bucks.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Yeah, yeah, they're not expensive, and I've done the
same thing, so okay.
So you have come to us and I'vedone the same thing, so okay.
So you have come to us.
We've found that this is anuncontested case because all of
those bullet points are met.
What is the first step in theprobate process?
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, so the first step in the probate process is
going to be filing anapplication for probate.
Essentially, what that means isthat we put the court on notice
that we're bringing a will tothem to probate.
So a will and this mightconfuse some people a will is
presumed invalid until it isadmitted to probate.
That doesn't mean that it'sactually invalid, but that's the
(12:29):
presumption that the law has.
So until it's proved up in theprobate court, it is presumed
invalid.
If someone wants to challengethe validity of that will, they
must do so before the probateprocess begins.
Once it's admitted into probate, they're going to have a much
difficult burden trying to, youknow, overturn that.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
So let me, let me ask you this you know, mom has
passed away.
She lived in Houston and theson is the independent executor.
He lives in San Antonio.
Where are we filing?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
We're filing in Houston.
We're going to file at theplace where the decedent lived.
Often that's going to be theplace that they passed away to.
But let's say in that examplethe decedent lived here in
Houston.
She went to visit her son inSan Antonio, passed away there.
It's still going to take placein Houston.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Okay, all right, thanks.
What's the next step?
Speaker 2 (13:22):
After we follow the application with the court,
we're going to do what's calledcitation by posting.
That essentially means we'regoing to post at the courthouse
that the decedent's will hasbeen processed and we are going
to be admitting it into probateat some point in time.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
It's kind of a vestige of days past where the
important news was given to thecommunity on the courthouse
steps and there's a few thingslike that in the law where you
know when they've, you know, gotauctions.
It's at the courthouse steps on, you know, a certain day of the
month.
So I know in Fort Bend Countythey literally have like a
digital computer screen whereeverything is posted, but it's
(14:03):
just different county by county.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah, and same thing, too, goes for the county's
process for getting the originalwill to them.
So that's why it's so importantagain to provide your attorney
with the original will, becauseit has to go to the courthouse
and it has to be on file withthe court.
The clerk of the court isbasically the determining
individual on whether or not thewill is original or it's a copy
(14:26):
.
It's very important.
They have a lot of power andeven if we send them an original
will and they say no, I believeit's a copy, we have to comply
with the steps that they havelaid out for us.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Okay, so we've sent the original will to the court.
The clerk has determinedwhether it's original or not.
What do we do next?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
So once we get the okay, then what we're going to
do is we're going to scheduleour prove up.
But before we can have ourprove up we have to send to the
court proposed orders.
The first is going to be anorder admitting will to probate
court proposed orders.
The first is going to be anorder admitting will to probate.
That is essentially thedocument that the judge is going
to sign, validating the willand saying this will has been
admitted into probate and thiscase can begin.
(15:10):
The second thing that we'regoing to do is submit what's
called a proof of deathtestimony.
That is just laying outjurisdiction requirements and
requirements of the estate'scode that this will can be
admitted into probate.
And, lastly, we're going tosubmit a proposed oath.
That is an oath that theexecutor is going to sign,
(15:31):
saying yes, I will carry outbasically the wishes of the will
.
I will comply with the EstatesCode in ensuring that all
requirements are met Once wefile those proposed orders.
They're not signed by attorneys,they're not signed by clients
or executors yet.
Then the judge will say okay,you can have your prove-up
hearing.
That's where we go and it'skind of like repeating the same
(15:53):
things over again.
This is the jurisdictionrequirements.
We have met them.
We can admit this will intoprobate.
Once the judge says, okay, youdid a great job, we're going to
admit this will into probate.
Then they will sign the orderadmitting will to probate.
We will sign the proof of deathtestimony as well as the oath,
and then what happens is we cankind of begin the back half of
(16:15):
the probate process.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
And I was actually in court on a different case when
you were doing one of these.
It's a fairly straightforwardprocess once you're actually in
court.
Correct?
Like, how long does this takefrom the moment that the judge
starts talking to you until themoment that you're done?
Typically?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Depending upon the case, a client or the attorney
can prove up the testimony, soif the attorney is proving it up
, I would say it takes less thanone minute.
In probate court, we havewhat's called a one-minute
prove-up, so that you can get inand you can get out.
Sometimes the clients, too, areable to complete that
one-minute prove-up If we have acopy of a will.
(16:54):
That's going to requireadditional testimony, so it's
going to take a little bitlonger.
Even then, though, it's notgoing to be more than a 10, 15
minute process.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Okay, well, very good .
Yeah, it's different thanfamily law, because you need
your client's testimony andfamily law to prove something up
.
Okay, so what comes next?
And is that the point, thatthen the executor can start to
take some actions on the estateor there's still additional
steps?
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Correct.
So once the judge puts theirwet signature on the order,
admitting will to probate, thenthe executor is able to act.
But oftentimes they're notgoing to be able to do much
without what's called letterstestamentary, that is, letters
that are issued by the courtgiving this individual or this
executor the power to act, totake documents to the bank and
(17:41):
say look, I am the executor, itis official.
So now I need to get thisaccount, I need to access it, I
need to administer it.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
So from the moment and of course, lawyer caveat,
lawyer disclaimer every case isdifferent.
But from the moment thatsomebody comes to us and says I
have a loved one that passedaway, here's I have all the.
But from the moment thatsomebody comes to us and says I
have a loved one that passedaway, here's I have all the
documents.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Until the moment that you can go to prove-ups the
citation by posting has to be onfile for 10 days before you can
have your prove-up, so I guessin a best case scenario could it
be two weeks.
(18:29):
Maybe, but that's probably notrealistic, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
What's next.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
So, after we get the letters of testimony, then what
we're going to do is we're goingto send notices.
These are notices to creditors.
The first what we're going todo is we're going to send
notices.
These are notices to creditors.
The first, what we're going todo is send a general notice to
creditors, just sending throughwhat's called the daily court
review, a publication, basically, of this individual's estate
has been entered into probateand if you have a claim, here's
(18:57):
your opportunity.
We're also going to submitspecific notice to creditors for
any sort of secured property,that is, property that's going
to be backed by some sort ofcollateral, like a mortgage or a
vehicle loan.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
So not credit cards, not unsecured loans.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Correct.
So we're not sending specificnotices to American Express or
Chase Visa, correct?
That would be part of thatgeneral notice to creditors.
The burden would fall upon themto go and look and see if they
have a claim.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
And for those who don't know and most people that
aren't lawyers or are involvedin the legal field probably
don't know this the Daily CourtReview is the, I guess, the
official newspaper ofpublications and postings, in
the greater Houston area atleast, and it's a newspaper that
I have only ever seen at thecourthouse and at the law
schools, and it does have somenews articles in it, but the
(19:53):
real purpose of this newspaperis to put things like postings
in it banks and credit cardcompanies.
They are looking through thesethings, looking for people that
maybe owe them some money.
They want to know about thisand then they want to get in
(20:14):
line so that they canpotentially get paid.
What's the next step?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So the next step is going to be evaluating whether
or not we need to do aninventory or if we can do an
affidavit in lieu of inventory.
So the first question that I'mgoing to ask is are there any
unsecured debts?
An unsecured debt is somethingthat's again not secured by
collateral, different from amortgage or a vehicle loan.
This is outstanding credit carddebt or medical bills.
(20:40):
If we have unsecured debt, whatwe're going to do is we're
going to file an inventory ofall of our assets.
We're going to look at the fairmarket value of everything that
we have, place that on theinventory and file it with the
court.
If we only have secured debt soa mortgage, for example then
what we can do is we can file anaffidavit in lieu of inventory,
(21:01):
meaning that we do not have tofile a formal inventory with the
court because we have nounsecured outstanding debt.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Okay, well, that simplifies matters a bit.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Absolutely.
Especially if, again, youprepared and you took care of
your estate and were able tominimize debts, this process can
be very, very simple.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
And how are you determining what those if you
have to do an inventory, how areyou determining what those
values are have to do aninventory?
How are you determining whatthose values are?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
The values are going to be the fair market value as
of the date of the decedent'sdeath.
So we're going to look at whatwas that value worth at the time
this individual passed away.
Of course, it can complicatethings if you wait a while to do
probate, because we're going tohave to look back maybe a year
or two, but we can make thathappen.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Okay.
And does probate have to bestarted immediately upon the
person's death?
I know you said that's a bestpractice, but what if somebody
waits six months or a year?
Is that okay?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
It's absolutely okay, and what we want to do first is
make sure that you're takingcare of yourself.
You know this is a hard process, especially losing a loved one,
so don't feel the need to jumpin.
If, for some reason, you don'thave access and it's becoming
detrimental, then yes, we wantto start that process.
But you can actually file intoprobate up to four years of the
(22:18):
date of the decedent's death.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
We don't recommend waiting that long.
Sure, no.
And I know that sometimes we'vehad clients that have thought
that everything was able to passoutside of probate and then
they realize, oh, there'sanother account that didn't pass
outside of probate.
Then they have to start theprocess and so that might be the
reason for the delay, right,okay?
So that is that, the completeprobate process.
(22:42):
What do we do next?
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Once we either file the inventory of the affidavit
in lieu of inventory, what we'regoing to do is we're going to
file an affidavit of 308 noticeto beneficiaries.
That's just going to state tothe beneficiaries the will was
admitted into probate.
You want to put along a copy ofthe order admitting will to
probate, and a best practicewould be to provide the
inventory as well.
Once that has been completed,then we can move into actual
(23:08):
administration of the estate, sopaying off debts, giving
property to those individualswho are entitled to it under the
will.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Okay, what do we do next to actually administer the
estate?
So, once all that's done andnow it's time to take care of
business, close everything out,move funds.
What does the executor, theperson who's come to us, our
client, what do they need to donext?
Speaker 2 (23:33):
So again, that's just going to depend upon the type
of estate that they have.
Let's say, we have did anaffidavit in lieu of inventory,
we only have a mortgage and thespouse is.
It's that situation where onespouse passed away and one is
living.
In that instance what we woulddo is we would prepare,
basically, an executor's deedthat gives the interest of the
(23:56):
estate to that spouse so thatthey have that property 100%.
That's just one thing that wedo.
It also allows the individualto start paying off any debts or
any claims that are owed.
You know, first is funeralexpenses.
That is something that anindividual is entitled to be
reimbursed for if they paid thatout of their pocket from the
(24:18):
estate up to $15,000.
The same goes for last illnessexpenses up to $15,000.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
So, to use the example that I used before,
where you have a mother that haspassed away, the son is the
executor and the son pays forhis mom's funeral expenses and
their $15,000.
He can get reimbursed for thatonce the probate process has
started.
Correct, okay, all right, great, and then.
(24:47):
So what happens next?
You've got a credit card,you've got a student loan,
you've got a mortgage that needsto be paid.
Who's getting paid and in whatorder?
Because there's got to be somesort of order to it, otherwise
everybody's just going to beclamoring over the money that's
left in this estate, so one.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
It depends on the types of claims that were filed
in the estate.
So a creditor basically bearsthe burden to file and say, hey,
someone owes me money.
The estate's code lays out theorder in which claimants are to
be paid, so I've got them listedbecause I do not have them
memorized.
The first is going to be anysort of estate administration
and estate management expenses.
(25:27):
That could be things likepaying for an attorney to come
and work this for you, and thosecan be reimbursements the
vehicle loan After that childsupport.
That's something that family lawyou know is an intersection of
(25:49):
probate.
If your ex-husband passed away,he was paying child support and
you are still owed and entitledchild support, you can file a
claim on behalf to get any ofthat unpaid child support.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Yeah.
So just to add a little bit,put a little bit more on that
Say the child is six years oldand the obligor say it's the
father passes away, how wouldyou calculate the amount that
would be?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
owed in child support , based upon what they are
currently paying now versus howlong that obligation is going to
be.
So if they have a 17-year-old,it's until that child reaches
the age of 18 or graduates fromhigh school.
The same would be if they havea 5-year-old.
How much money is it going totake for this child to reach 18
or graduate from high school,whichever comes later?
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Okay and I can't stress this enough that if you
are an obligee meaning you are asurviving parent and you were
owed child support during thelife of that child, you have to
make a claim for that money.
Don't expect that anybody isgoing to say well wait, there's
a child here and there's a momor dad that still needs to get
(27:02):
paid that child support.
You've got to preferably get alawyer, but you've got to make a
claim there, stake your claimto the money so you can get in
line.
Otherwise nobody's going to bedoing you any favors.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
What's next?
Who's next in line?
Speaker 2 (27:16):
So next in line are just a bunch of other unique, I
would say, types of claims, butthe catch-all is going to be any
other unsecured claims, that'sthe absolute last that's going
to be paid out.
So credit cards, medical bills,any other debts let's say I
loaned you money that would allfall within that.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
So American Express Visa MasterCard, they're getting
paid last.
Right, you're getting paidchild support before you pay in
Visa, Exactly Okay, well, Iappreciate that.
Is there anything else on theprocess that we missed?
I don't believe so.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Of course, there can be different nuances depending
upon the estate, depending uponwhether or not you have the
original.
Will you have a copy?
It's not signed by witnesses.
We can handle pretty much allof those things as they come.
So just know that maybe some ofthese things don't apply.
There are some nuances that youjust have to look out for.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
So if somebody's going to you know they have a
loved one that passed away, theycome to Hunt Law Firm.
They call our office.
What can they expect in thisprocess?
Is there anything unique thatthey should understand what the
process is going to be like fromthe moment they pick up the
phone or write a message on ourwebsite to get in touch with us?
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Yeah.
So what we're going to do iswe're going to evaluate on the
outset whether or not it'scontested.
So that means our intake teamis going to ask a set of
questions.
In the event that the answersare no, or you know they don't
meet our structure, we wouldthen need to refer you to
another attorney, but someonewill be able to help you.
It might not be our firm, butwe can get you in touch with
(28:47):
someone.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Okay, wonderful.
Well, I appreciate youexplaining this.
This is a really important areathat we're breaking into and I
know it's going to be a reallyimportant added service for our
clients, and I know we talkedabout this off camera before.
But we just enjoy helpingpeople that are in need in our
(29:08):
community, whether that be Katyor League City, cypress or Sugar
Land, where we work in thecommunity, we live in the
community and it makes us enjoyour jobs that, when somebody
comes to us and is in need anddoesn't know where to go, is
that we can be that person thatcan give them not only the legal
expertise but also thecompassion to help get them
(29:32):
through the process.
So I'm glad you're taking thison.
I appreciate you explaining thisand if anybody out there does
have any other questions, you'rewelcome to leave a comment on
this video.
You're welcome to give us acall at 832-315-5494.
Our website isfamilylawyerkatiecom and you're
(29:53):
welcome to leave a message onthere and we could set up a
consultation and we can talk alittle bit more about the
probate process or, if you havea family issue, we can talk
about it there.
Our website also has a ton ofinformation about not only
probate matters, but also familylaw matters as well.
So check that out, check outall the resources we have on our
website.
Brie, again thank you forjoining me.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
All right, until next time, thanks everybody.
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