Greenville Estate Administration Lawyers

Looking After You & Your Estate

Despite being one of the most crucial parts of estate planning, many people overlook estate administration. While you're worried about writing a will or trust, it can be easy to underestimate the importance of developing a plan to make sure those documents are properly taken care of in the future.

At Blood Law, PLLC, our Greenville estate administration attorneys will work with you to draft a comprehensive plan for your estate. If you pass away or become medically incapacitated, we'll ensure your assets and liabilities are properly cared for.

To schedule a consultation with our team, contact us online or via phone at (864) 713-9044.

What Is Estate Administration?

When an individual (a decedent) dies, their property goes through a variety of processes depending on the decedent's estate plan.

For example, if the decedent had a well-prepared estate plan, including a legally sound last will and trust, those documents will dictate how their estate is distributed. However, if an individual dies without a will, then their estate will be distributed according to South Carolina laws drafted for such an occasion.

Either way, estates often go through probate. During probate, the probate court works with an executor—an individual either specific in the decedent's will or appointed by the court if the decedent had no will—to ensure the decedent's will and last wishes are executed properly.

Executing a will involves taking an inventory of the decedent's property, repaying any creditors, and then distributing the estate among beneficiaries named in the decedent's will, among other things.

However, if the decedent had a trust, that can be used to circumvent the probate process, awarding assets to beneficiaries without going through probate.

As you can probably tell, distributing an estate after someone dies can be legally complex. The more assets and liabilities (debts) a decedent owns, the more complicated it will be to distribute their estate.

This is where estate administration comes in. An estate administrator will have prior knowledge of a decedent's estate and estate plan, enabling them to streamline processes such as probate and help the decedent's loved ones distribute their estate more easily.