mardi 18 février 2014

All About Dallas Probate Attorneys

By Krystal Branch


The Dallas probate attorneys should be contacted by a victim if there are questions regarding debts of a deceased loved one. There are certain legal rules regarding the debts of a person who has died. Many times creditors move in on surviving spouses, parents or other relatives and try to get them to pay up out of a sense of obligation, morality or guilt.

It helps to know exactly what certification is. Certification can be defined as the court supervised process of locating and determining the value of the assets owned in the name of a deceased individual. This person is referred to in this instance as decedent. Once this has been done then the final bills of the decedent must be paid off and estate or inheritance taxes must also be paid. What is left to do after that is to distribute whatever remains of the assets to the heirs.

The Federal Trade Commission has put out a warning to consumers in order to alert them about these unscrupulous debt collecting practices. The Federal Trade Commission states that a persons estate is responsible for paying outstanding bills, not relatives. If a spouses name was also on a loan, he or she would be liable but not otherwise.

Certification and estate laws vary from state to state so it is crucial for survivors to get legal advice from an experienced lawyer. If the deceased person had a lawyer, this legal representative might be the one to turn to for advice. When a person dies, loan holders such as mortgage companies and banks will typically file to be paid during a certification process. Assets will typically be sold and creditors paid for as long as the money holds out. If there is not enough cash to settle all outstanding bills, unless a spouse or relative is on the loan as a co-borrower, the debt will have to go unpaid. This is one of the risks that banks take.

Some individuals set up certain provisions ahead of time to make sure that certification is avoided as it can be a cumbersome process that takes months or even years to resolve. Some individuals set up living trusts in order to spare heirs the long legal process. Another way that this can be simplified ahead of a persons death is if they have their attorney set up specific accounts and properties in a way that the funds are directly transferred to the heir.

A certification attorney does everything in his or her power and based on his or her training and skill to assist and advise the executor on the best course of action to take. This should be regarding the legal matters, debts and assets of the decedent. When representing the executor the lawyer will be required to find and to secure all certification and non-certification assets.

Never give out social security numbers thus do not give your social security number out to anyone. Don't give the deceased persons social security number out either. A person can either hang up or tell the person calling to contact the law office handling certification proceedings.

The Dallas probate attorneys are given plenty of other responsibilities as well.one must keep track of the checking account for the decedents estate and he must address all issues as they relate to income tax. He also must advise the executor about how to proceed in regard to the outstanding debts and last bills that must be paid from the estate.




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