Probate

Probate is the judicial procedure through which a deceased person's estate is administered under court supervision. It typically involves four core steps: authenticating the will (if one exists), appointing an executor or administrator, inventorying and valuing assets, paying outstanding debts and taxes, and distributing the remainder to beneficiaries.

When a person dies testate (with a valid will), the court confirms the document's authenticity and empowers the named executor to act. When a person dies intestate (without a will), the court appoints an administrator and distributes assets according to statutory intestacy rules, which vary by jurisdiction.

In the United States, probate is governed at the state level, though many states have adopted versions of the Uniform Probate Code (UPC), first promulgated in 1969 by the Uniform Law Commission. In England and Wales, probate matters are handled by the Probate Service within HM Courts & Tribunals Service, with a Grant of Probate issued from the Principal Registry of the Family Division or district registries. Civil law jurisdictions often use notarial succession procedures rather than adversarial court probate.

Probate is frequently criticized for being slow, public, and costly. Common avoidance mechanisms include:

• Revocable living trusts, which hold assets outside the probate estate
• Joint tenancy with right of survivorship
• Payable-on-death (POD) and transfer-on-death (TOD) designations on financial accounts
• Beneficiary designations on life insurance and retirement accounts

Although primarily a domestic civil-law matter, probate intersects with international affairs when estates span multiple jurisdictions. The Hague Convention of 2 October 1973 Concerning the International Administration of the Estates of Deceased Persons sought to streamline cross-border estate administration, and the EU's Succession Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 650/2012), which entered into application on 17 August 2015, created the European Certificate of Succession to address conflict-of-laws issues among member states (with opt-outs by Ireland and Denmark).