What is Probate and Why is the Bank Asking for Letters?
Has someone told you that you need “Letters” before they can tell you anything about your deceased loved one’s property? Clients will come in and tell me they went to the bank and were shut down by employees insisting they need “Letters” to settle their loved one’s estate. The bank will insist on Letters even if you have a Death Certificate, even if you have a Will, and even when the Will says you are the executor. So why isn’t the Death Certificate or Will enough? What are “Letters” and how do you get them? In short, probate needs to be opened for someone to be granted Letters from the court, which begs the questions: What is probate?
Probate is a legal proceeding where assets are transferred from a deceased individual (commonly referred to as the “Decedent”) to living persons or entities. If the Decedent had a Last Will and Testament, then the Will dictates how their assets are to be distributed at their death. Alternatively, if the Decedent had no Will, then their estate would pass to their next of kin under the laws of the State of Washington. Regardless of whether or not the Decedent had a Will, someone needs to Petition the court and request authority to administer the Decedent’s estate in order to open a probate and obtain Letters from the Court.
The Petitioner will need to include information about the Decedent’s heirs, when they passed away, and whether the Decedent’s assets exceed their debts. If the Decedent had a Will, the Court requires that the Petitioner file the original Will – meaning that you can’t just submit a copy or electronically file a scan of the Will. Additionally, certain counties also require that a Death Certificate be filed along with the Petition. Therefore, you should be prepared to provide the Will and the Death Certificate to your attorney when petitioning to open a probate. You should also be prepared to discuss the Decedent’s assets, their debts, and their family dynamic in detail with your attorney so that they can properly advise you on how to proceed and help you plan for any issues that may arise during the probate.
After the Petition and the necessary supporting documents are filed, the Court will issue “Letters Testamentary” for probates with a Will, and “Letters of Administration” for probates where there is no Will. Those Letters will say who the Court has appointed as Personal Representative and will allow the named Personal Representative to administer the Decedent’s estate.
To learn more about What is Probate and Why is the Bank Asking for Letters?, please contact Beresford Booth at info@beresfordlaw.com or by phone at (425) 776-4100.