What Happens if I Pass Without a Will?

What happens if you pass without a will depends on your assets and other planning.

If you have literally no assets, other than maybe the clothes on your back, then nothing has to be done.

If you have all of your assets in trust, then the trustee will follow the instructions in the trust agreement.

If you pass with only a Last Will and Testament, then your estate will have to go through Probate and Administration.  If you pass without a Last Will and Testament, then your estate will have to go through Administration.

Probate is admitting the Last Will and Testament.  That is, proving that it is the valid Will of the deceased.

Administration is the process of paying creditors, gathering assets, appointing a Personal Representative, paying taxes, informing heirs, distributing property, and much more.  You can expect this to take 6 months to years to finish.

In Arkansas, if you have under $100,000 of assets, not including your homestead (that is the place you lived) and don’t owe any bills, then an affidavit may be filed instead of the formal process.  It is still not a short process.  The family must wait 45 days.  If real estate was part of the estate, then an advertisement must be ran in the paper, adding another 3 months to the process.  But 4.5 months and not trips to court makes this a much more desirable process.  It is also much less expensive.

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from DeWitt Law Firm, PLLC