Do I Need an Attorney for Estate Administration?

Back to Chicago Law Firm Video FAQs

Transcription

We have a lot of clients that come to us and ask whether or not they need to use our service to administer their estate. Before we jump right in and say, “Yes you need an attorney,” we take a careful look at what assets need to be transferred.

Typically, an asset that has a beneficiary designation on it, would not need a court involvement in terms of transferring assets upon death. Assets are held jointly with the husband and wife. For example, if the husband passed away, the wife is automatically receive that asset without any court intervention.

Typically when an attorney is needed, is when an asset is solely in that person’s name who passed away. There’s no beneficiary designation on that account. Essentially the person to receive that asset needs to get some court authority or some official document that empowers the surviving heirs or the surviving spouse to receive that asset.

That’s when an attorney would really need to be involved with helping transfer those assets to that survivor.