Estate Administration in Jacksonville

Estate administration in Jacksonville refers to the administering and closing of a deceased’s estate. An estate can consist of many different types of assets. The estate administrator is responsible for identifying and organizing the assets and developing a plan to make sure debts are paid and distributions are made to beneficiaries. Questions arise about how different assets are transferred to heirs. Some require court supervision, and some do not. Assets requiring judicial oversight have to go through the probate process. Probate is part of the larger estate administration process which handles the transfer of assets after death. Probate is a court process where a judge’s approval and court order are needed to pass title to assets.

While some types of estate assets must go through probate, other types of assets do not. In that situation, they will still need to be administered. In other words, there will still need to be an estate administration to make sure the assets get transferred in the way the deceased wanted. Some of these types of assets may pass by beneficiary designation or pass automatically to a joint owner. The estate administrator will have to do many of the same things that are required in a probate proceeding, such as organizing the assets, notifying the beneficiaries, giving creditors notice and a chance to file a claim, paying the unpaid debts of the deceased, preparing an inventory of the assets, filing tax returns, and finally distributing those assets to the intended beneficiaries.