Probate and estate administration can be challenging to bring to a settlement when there are particular claims involved. In order to contest a will in the state of Tennessee, you must first establish standing by showing you are a potential beneficiary of your deceased family member’s estate. If you do demonstrate standing, three options are available for contesting the will: incompetence, defective instrument, and undue influence. The latter – undue influence – pertains to our question of whether we can challenge a will if a sibling persuaded our parent to leave [...]

Probate is designed to deter fraud after an individual’s death. It is a method of “freezing” the estate until a judge makes a determination on the validity of the Will, that the entire property of the estate has been identified, that all the relevant individuals have been notified, that the taxes have been paid, and that the creditors have been paid. Once these matters have been completed, the court orders the distribution of the property and the estate is closed. Q: Do I Have to File for Probate? A: Not every [...]

As a general rule, when someone dies, his or her bank accounts go through probate. Probate is the process Tennessee courts use after someone dies to validate any will and appoints someone to handle the estate. The person appointed as personal representative (such as the executor of your will) has the duty to collect all the probate assets of the person who died, pay the creditors of the decedent, pay any taxes that are due, and then distribute the assets to the heirs. Not all assets are required to go through [...]