If you have ever created any enduring power of attorney in Kelowna or at least have talked to your lawyer about Canadian estate planning, you would have heard about the world probate once. If not, we will help you understand it here. Probate plays a very important in your estate and will plan and this is something every will creator wants to avoid.

But why should one avoid probate? And what exactly is probate? If you have a will, is probate still necessary? Let us try to answer these questions below.

Probate is the legal process that occurs after someone dies. The process is overseen by a court of law. It includes multiple steps, court appearances, and attorneys.

Generally, the steps to probate involve proving in court that the will of the deceased is valid. Later it helps in identifying and inventorying the decedent’s property – both the real such as homes and personal property like coins, jewelry, and more. In the next step, the property will be appraised to determine the value of the estate. Then any outstanding taxes or debts will be paid off. Finally, the remaining property in the descendant’s estate will be distributed either as per the will, if it has proven to be valid or as per the state of the law if there is no will or if the will has not been proven valid.

This is a mundane task and involved immense paperwork. Most of the time, beneficiaries hire estate lawyers to deal with these issues because the beneficiaries are also required to visit the court from time to time. The main purpose behind probate is to ensure the descendant’s debts are paid and the assets of the descendant’s estate go to the correct beneficiaries. Probate also allows for the legal transfer of the descendant’s estate to their beneficiaries. Thus, it also serves as a receipt, making it known that the new owner of the property is the legal owner and can sell, loan, or rent the property.

What should be the worth of the property to go probate?

Although there are many ways to avoid probate, the size of the estate is not one of them. Any estate regardless of its total value must go through probate unless some of the planning techniques described later are utilized. This said different states might have different types of probates based on the total value of the estate.

States might have simple probates for small estates and complex procedures for huge estates. Small estate probates are good options for estates as they are simpler, cheaper, and faster than a full probate. You should get in touch with your estate lawyer while creating your Canadian estate planning. Your lawyer will show you the ways to avoid probate once the will matures.