Probate handles asset distribution post-death; having a will simplifies this process. Assign beneficiaries for assets like life insurance to bypass probate. Creating a trust can avoid probate, ...

Probate is a court-supervised process to evaluate the contents of an estate and distribute them to beneficiaries. It is not necessary for the person who has died to bequeath an estate for probate to ...

Julia Kagan is a financial/consumer journalist and former senior editor, personal finance, of Investopedia. Marguerita is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor ...

Definition of Formal Probate Formal probate is a court-supervised process where the validity of a deceased person's will is determined and their assets are distributed. It's often used when the ...