Probate

Owning a business is a major undertaking. After putting so much of your energy, time, and money into starting and running a business, the last thing you want is for the business to just “end” because something happens to you. But that’s exactly what can happen if you don’t plan ahead for some sort of business succession. Even if the plan is to simply sell the business assets and wrap up shop, things can get very messy without an appropriate plan in place.

Avoiding probate is a goal for most of our clients, but a lot of people don’t know—prior to talking to an elder law attorney—why they’d want to avoid probate.

Probate is a court process that is necessary when assets are titled solely in the name of a person when he or she dies. Probate issues often arise with real estate, but it can also be an issue with assets such as bank accounts, investment accounts, life insurance, stocks, and vehicles.