Estate Administration

Harnett County, North Carolina, Estate Administration

If you're an executor of a North Carolina probate estate in the Fayetteville-Lillington area, or if you're a successor trustee who needs advice about your responsibilities in postmortem trust administration, contact a North Carolina probate lawyer at Kelly & West for reliable advice about making the estate or trust administration process go smoothly.

North Carolina probate can be an easy and streamlined process, depending on the size of the estate, the status of the heirs, and the quality of the estate plan prior to the decedent's death. For example, the summary administration of estates valued at under $10,000 not only favors executors and heirs inheriting estates of modest means, but also provides an incentive for more affluent families to use revocable living trusts and other probate avoidance devices for transferring assets out of the estate prior to death.

Even if the size of the estate will require extensive probate court supervision, a Kelly & West estate administration attorney can help you with the routine steps and advise you about dealing with complications concerning:

• Establishing the validity of the will
• Publishing notice of the estate to creditors
• Assembling the assets and preparing an inventory
• Paying debts and handling claims against the estate
• Filing estate tax returns as necessary
• Preparing interim and final accounts
• Distributing assets to the heirs

For trustees, our lawyers can help with preparing your inventory of trust assets, distributing income to beneficiaries, preparating and filing of fiduciary tax returns, and perhaps most importantly, making sure that all of the assets that the trust purports to hold have been properly transferred into the trust.

Our North Carolina probate litigation attorneys can also represent any party to a dispute involving the administration of a trust, the probate of a will, or the testamentary capacity of the decedent. We are familiar with the investigation and proof of claims concerning undue influence or coercion, the status of heirs when challenged, the status or valuation of particular assets as inter vivos gifts or property of the estate, and breach of fiduciary duty claims.

For additional information about our ability to handle your estate administration, trust administration, or probate litigation needs, contact  the North Carolina probate lawyers at Kelly & West in Lillington.