You may have been named a loved one's estate administrator and now wonder if you should hire an estate administration attorney to help you. It isn't always necessary in all cases that an estate administrator needs to hire a lawyer to help settle the estate but not all estates are easy to settle. This is where an attorney can help you through the complicated aspects of estate administration.

If you are an estate administrator and wonder if you need an attorney, here are some reasons why it can be beneficial to hire one.

Some Property Can't Be Transferred Without Probate

It's possible that the majority of your loved one's property is able to be transferred without the need for probate, but it might not be the case for all their property. This will largely depend on how well they included all their assets into their will and how carefully they divided their property.

It's possible some items were missed like a secondary car, a bank account they thought they included, or even precious jewelry they may have forgotten about. In addition, larger property or business interests might need to go through probate in order to be settled. This can be true if your loved one owned a partial stake in a business that isn't being sold.

In these cases, it's best to hire an estate administration attorney to help you through the sometimes complicated process.

It's Not A Simple Estate

There are times that your loved one's estate is not considered simple. This means they have more assets and property than just a family home, any vehicles, and bank accounts to attend to. They could own a business, have multiple bank accounts and trusts, stocks, or other assets that will need to be taken care of. These aren't simple tasks to handle and an estate administration attorney should be hired if this is the case.

Larger estates can be very complicated to administer and settle and there are certain laws surrounding business assets that must be followed. It's always best in this situation to contact a professional.

The Estate Doesn't Have Enough Money To Pay Debts

It may be possible that your loved one had a lot of debt and there isn't enough money in the estate to pay off all of it. This could be for a number of reasons. For instance, business dealings and even taxes can take a significant portion of the assets in the estate. While not all debt needs to be paid off, it can be difficult to know which to pay and which will need to be let go.

An estate administration attorney can walk you through which debts definitely need to be paid like property taxes, income taxes, and others. They can also guide you through the debts that legally can be let go, for example, credit card debt. To learn more, contact an estate administration attorney.