Probates Protect the Administering of a Deceased Person’s Will

Video Transcribed: What is the purpose of a probate case in Oklahoma? I’m Tulsa Estate Planning Attorney James Wirth, and that’s the question that we have is, what is the purpose of probate? And it’s got multiple purposes. The primary purpose is that when somebody passes away and they have assets, the purpose is to determine who gets those assets.

So there’s no fighting over it where it’s a first-come, first-serve, family members battling it out at the house, just grabbing things. No, it’s done formally as part of a court proceeding.

So the primary purpose is to make sure that the person’s assets are distributed in accordance with either their will and last testament or in accordance with Oklahoma’s intestate succession laws.

And then the other purpose of probate is to make sure that due process is handled, that all of the errors get proper notice, that creditors get proper notice. Anybody that’s owed money gets proper notice so that it can be handled as part of the estate. So it’s to properly distribute while giving due process and handling it through an orderly court proceeding.

However, probate can take a lot of time. It can take a lot of resources, can be expensive. So many times people want to avoid probate, which can be done through proper estate planning.

If you’ve got any questions about a probate case or estate planning, you’re going to want to talk to an attorney privately, confidentially about that. To get that scheduled with somebody at my office, you can go online to makelaweasy.com.