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What is probate? Welcome and thank you for joining me. I’m an attorney practicing in
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho with an emphasis on trial work. Probate is an unnecessarily scary word.
What it means simply is if a person dies, their will must be submitted to the court
in the form of a lawsuit and then the assets distributed as the deceased wanted to in the
will. Now the personal representative is the person named in the will to handle the distribution
of the assets. The personal representative hires an attorney to do the formal paperwork
that’s filed in court. Can you do it yourself? Yes. A personal representative can file a
probate on their own without an attorney but there are certain key points that must be
kept in mind. First of all, probate is a technical proceeding and somewhat difficult without
legal training. Also, if the personal representative fails to pay a debt and the assets are then
distributed to the heirs and that creditor later on sues, the personal representative
can be personally liable to have to pay that debt. Why am I telling you this? Because if
you’re watching this, you have questions. These are the types of questions I answer
every day in my office, so I’m asking you to pick up the phone and call me and I’ll
answer your questions. You can reach me at 208-665-4600. I’m Jim Bendell, thank you
for watching.