When a loved one passes away, their finances, property and personal belongings don't automatically transfer to family members. A formal, court-managed process called probate handles this transfer.

Probate is a public process, which means details of the deceased's estate become public record. Probate is the process completed when a decedent leaves assets to distribute, such as bank accounts, ...

When someone dies without a plan in place for their assets it can trigger probate. During this court-supervised process, the deceased’s estate must address outstanding obligations before it can ...