What Makes the Probate Process Take So Long?

One of the biggest reasons to avoid the probate process is that there are certain situations in which the process can stretch on for a seemingly endless amount of time. This results in significant delays for heirs waiting to receive their inheritance and charities waiting to receive their bequests, and can cause legal fees to skyrocket in some circumstances.

Here are just a few of the reasons why probate can become a long, drawn-out process if you haven’t taken the estate planning steps necessary to avoid it.

• More beneficiaries means more time: Estates that have more than just a few beneficiaries will take longer to probate, because all beneficiaries must be notified of the decedent’s passing and be kept up to date with what is happening with the probate administration process. There are also some documents that must be signed by beneficiaries, and there are always going to be at least one or two who take a long time to get those documents signed and back in. Simply put, logistical challenges associated with numerous beneficiaries will always result in delays.
• Estate taxes add complications: While not many estates will be subject to federal estate taxes in the United States, those that are will take significantly longer to administer. It takes the IRS at least three or four months to even process a Form 706 after it’s been filed, and another several months for a person to analyze the return. This means it could be the better part of a year before the IRS finalizes the estate tax return, and that’s even without requests for additional documentation.
• Arguments among beneficiaries draw out the process: If any of the beneficiaries do not get along and extend their feud to issues relating to the estate, this could result in some significant delays, especially when they get their own attorneys involved or attempt to challenge the validity of a will. In some particularly complicated cases, this can take months to years to resolve.
• Estates with unusual or valuable assets take longer to probate: Estates that have rare items, collectibles, patents, significant business interests or property that is very difficult to liquidate will always take longer to probate because of the unique nature of the items and their value.
• A poor choice for personal representative could slow probate: This is one of the biggest reasons why it’s so important to spend some time thinking about who you want to serve as the personal representative of your estate. Are they organized? Are they good with money? Are they generally responsible and trustworthy? Selecting the wrong person could result in the process dragging on because of their inability to handle the responsibilities of the position.

Working with an estate planning attorney to avoid probate can help you prevent these issues from arising and delaying the entire process of administering your estate.

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Misha Gill is an Alexandria estate planning attorney for his firm, Speedwell Law, PLLC. If you would like assistance in setting up your own will, living trust, and other estate planning documents, Misha can be reached at (703) 553-2577 or [email protected].

This post, including any of its contents or links, is not intended to provide you with legal advice. It provides personal perspectives on legal news and developments. Reading this post, leaving a comment, or communicating with its author by email or over the Internet does not create any attorney-client relationship.