Probate Mediation
Cheaper, faster, and altogether less unpleasant.
Probate is the process by which, after someone dies, their estate is transferred to survivors, as designated in a will, or via the default legal rules. Many people assume that the transfer of assets and payment of debts after death is simple and quick; nothing could be further from the truth. The average probate in California, with a will, takes over a year. Probate is incredibly slow, and it’s sadly not uncommon for family disputes to rear their heads during probate and massively derail the process, which is even more expensive.
These problems can be minimized, but not always prevented, by having a solid estate plan, including a will and usually a trust to handle property. If you don’t have these things, drop us a line, and we’ll be pleased to refer you to lawyers who can draft them. But, if you’re here, you probably have a probate issue that’s already threatening to go off the rails. Whether it’s a will dispute, a conservatorship issue, or something else, we’re here to help.
The big problem with probate is that is brings so many unresolved and unexamined issues to the fore. Often, people assumed, perhaps unwisely, that they would inherit a large amount from a person. When the person passes, the estate is too small to pay a bequest. Or, an elderly relative needs to go into care, and needs someone to manage their finances. This is a hugely risky part of the process, and often family members that used to get along will start fighting as soon as difficult decisions about, say, Grandma’s money need to be made. The other thing that most people don’t realize is that the number of lawyers in a contested probate grows rapidly. It’s not at all uncommon to have a lawyer for each heir, even those not mentioned in the will, and a lawyer who represents the estate, and a representative of the county, all of whom need to be scheduled with, and all of whom will be billing for their time.
So, contested probates are hard mediations. It can be very difficult to get to the table with that many people who feel that strongly, and we find it incredibly helpful to be able to tell parties in a contested mediation what their options are, realistically, outside of mediation. We also pride ourselves on knowing how probate can interact with, for example, family law, or even criminal law, which is a rare form of expertise. Since probate is so complex, and frankly so hard, most probate firms do only probate, and may not be able to explain how a restraining order between two parties might influence a settlement.
If you have a probate that’s contested, or likely will be in the near future, consider contacting us and seeing what we can do to help. Like most cases, almost all contested probates are ordered to mediation eventually; you might as well do it on your terms, and with people who are well positioned to help.
The Process
Like normal mediation, probate mediation is confidential, voluntary, and your mediator will be neutral. The process of getting started is simple: you tell us what your goals are, and where the case is at, and we work with all the parties to get to a resolution. Specifically, we’ll ask about the nature of the estate, the contested parts, if any, and whether there are likely other challenges coming. We handle intestate estates as well, meaning estates in which there wasn’t a will, and we’re particularly well positioned to handle estates that get complicated, with multiple claims and multiple fields of law.
We’ll contact you and the other involved parties \ to see where the parties agree on the basic facts, and then the real work begins, as we help all the parties move towards a complete agreement. Agreements in probate have to be very personalized to work; our goal is to have an agreement that’s realistic and which all parties feel good about, to streamline the work that has to be done for the court to accept a settlement.
If this sounds good to you, please fill out this form, and we’ll get right back to you to let you know what we can do to help. All submissions are of course confidential.