Whenever a person dies, his or her estate needs to be collected, managed, and distributed. Estate administration involves gathering the assets of the estate, paying the decedent's debts, and distributing the assets that remain in the estate.

In recent years, state legislatures have attempted to reduce the complexity of estate administration. Currently, about 20 states have adopted some version of the Uniform Probate Code (UPC), which was designed to simplify the estate administration process and provide similarity among probate laws from state to state.

Which State Law Applies?

In some cases, an estate may need to be administered in more than one state. Generally, the state in which the decedent resided at the time of death will be the state where the decedent's estate is probated.  However, state law governs the transfer of real estate, so if the decedent owned real estate in another state, it may be necessary to do an ancillary proceeding to probate that one piece of property in the state where it is located.  An ancillary proceeding is a scaled-down probate proceeding, which governs only the assets located in that state.  In some instances, it may be necessary to consult two attorneys, one in the state where the decedent lived and another attorney in the state where the decedent owned real estate.

Probate: Formal or Informal

In many states, a probate proceeding can be either formal or informal.  An informal probate proceeding usually involves filing some basic paperwork, having the court appoint someone to manage the estate, paying the debts, distributing the assets, and having the court approve the distribution.  The court's role may never require a hearing, but only a review of the papers filed.

In other instances, such as when a will is disputed, a formal probate proceeding may be required.  A formal proceeding involves more court oversight and usually requires one or more court hearings.  In some states, a probate proceeding can be formal in parts and informal in others.  For example, the matter may start out formally, with a court hearing to appoint the personal representative, but end informally, with a paper filed with the court detailing how the assets are to be distributed.