Probate

The court-based process for settling estates. Probate generally occurs in the following two scenarios:

• Intestacy: If a person dies without an estate plan, probate must be opened in order to determine how the decedent's assets will be distributed.
• Wills: If a person dies with a will, the will must go through probate in order to verify that it was signed properly.

Probate is also a required process for repaying creditors of a decedent. Creditor repayment is one of the primary responsibilities of an estate in probate proceedings.