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Wisconsin law requires that a person having custody of any will must, within 30 days after he or she has knowledge of the person's death, file the will in the proper court or deliver it to the person named as personal representative in the will. Probate is a court supervised process with 3 goals: (1) to transfer a deceased person's assets to the legal heirs or beneficiaries named in the will; (2) to determine and pay Federal and Wisconsin estate and income taxes; and (3) to determine creditors claims. How long probate takes depends mainly upon the size of the estate, the type of assets owned, the form of ownership, the complexity of creditor's claims and whether a business is involved. Estate and income tax along with marital property issues also may affect the length of the process. Large or contested estates may, with an extension approved by the court, take two or more years. Small estates may take as little as eight months. A personal representative, sometimes called an executor, is the individual or corporation named in a will or appointed by the court to oversee the probate of an estate. The main duties of a personal representative are to: 1. Identify and collect the assets of the deceased; 2. Manage the assets during the administration of the estate; 3. Determine the rights of any surviving spouse under marital property laws; 4. Pay expenses of administration, taxes, debts and claims; and 5. Distribute the remaining assets to those entitled to receive them. The personal representative is entitled to be reimbursed for all necessary expenses in managing and settling the estate. Besides expenses, the personal representative can receive 2% of the inventory value of property for which the personal representative is accountable (less any mortgages or liens) or such other amount as may be either agreed to by the decedent or beneficiaries or approved by the court. The personal representative often selects an attorney to help expedite the probate process and complete the many forms required to be filed with the court. For further information about our probate department, please contact Attorney William E. Maas at wem@daublaw.com. Below are a few of the issues that are generally addressed
in the probate process:
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