If your family needs to probate your estate, they will likely need to hire a lawyer. It is very difficult to file the necessary papers with the probate court without the assistance of a legal professional. Your family can get the paperwork they need directly from the probate court in the county where you died. However, the employees who work at the probate court are not allowed to give legal advice. Therefore, they usually may not tell you what forms you need, and they can't help you fill out the forms even if you know what forms to ask for.

The time your lawyer needs to spend preparing the paperwork to probate your estate will be substantially reduced if you do your homework while you are alive, and your family understands the probate process. If you prepared a notebook containing all of the information about your family and your assets, and it contains a copy of your will, as well as a copy of all of the paperwork recommended in Chapter 2, you will have saved the lawyer hours of work and considerably reduced expenses for your family.

If you stay organized and you keep your plan updated, you will be able to be more specific about how your property should be distributed. Keeping the plan current reduces the possibility that someone will contest your choice of an executor or will disagree about what you want done with your property. It will also keep the information current about the bills you owe. If your creditors are paid, they can't file a claim against your estate, which would cause more expense and delay for your family.