probate

Probate is a court controlled process that is often necessary when someone dies and they owned something that didn’t have a beneficiary designation. It isn’t usually a scary process, but like most court controlled processes, it’s public and takes more time and money than you want it to. In Oklahoma, because of statutory requirements, notice of the Probate must be sent to certain people, hearings must be had, and the Probate process will last at least five months. Because of the time and money involved— and how public a process it is— a goal for most people doing Estate Planning is to avoid Probate. But, sometimes, plans go awry or there wasn’t an effective plan in place— and we’re off to court. This can be true even if you have a valid Will, because, in Oklahoma, a Will isn’t enough to avoid probate. Empowered Estate Planning can help you plan to avoid Probate, or if a loved one has passed, we can help you determine if a Probate is necessary. If a Probate is necessary, we can’t make the process faster, but we can make it as painless as possible.