What you need to know about Nevada Probate.
What is Probate?
A person’s home is typically their most valuable asset. When a person dies, often times their home must pass through the court’s probate procedure before it can be transferred to a person’s heirs or sold. Probate is, essentially, the procedure created by the State of Nevada for determining who will be in charge of managing the deceased person’s estate and for determining who receives their property. Probate can be extremely complex, but for the purposes of this article we will stick to the absolute basics.
Beginning the Probate Process: Lodging the Will
There are a lot of emotions involved with the death of a loved one. It can be a hectic, confusing, and heartbreaking time for family and friends. In such difficult times it can be easy to get distracted; making all the necessary preparations for the funeral and burial, contacting loved ones, and on top of that having to deal with financing it all can be almost too much to handle. In the midst of all this it is not uncommon for the first steps in the probate process to be put off or forgotten entirely.
Ideally the deceased will have left a will or other estate planning documents to provide their heirs with guidance as to their final wishes and the distribution of their property. For the person who has possession of the deceased’s Last Will and Testament the first step is to “deliver it to the clerk of the district court which has jurisdiction of the case or to the personal representative named in the will.” NRS 136.050 (this citation refers to the section of the Nevada Revised Statutes I am quoting. Take a look at the Nevada Legislature’s website to see for yourself).
This is referred to “lodging the will” with the Court and it is the first thing you’ll need to do in order to get the ball rolling on the probate process.
Obtaining Letters of Administration
A person’s money, house or other real estate property, bank accounts, cars, and even their debts, all make up what is collectively referred to as the deceased’s estate. Once the will has been lodged you (or your attorney acting on your behalf) will need to ask the Probate Court for permission to legally assemble the estate and give you what are referred to as Letters of Administration. The person who receives these letters is often referred to as the Personal Representative, the Administrator, or the Executor. Ideally your deceased loved one will have named a person in his or her Will to serve in this position, however, if this isn’t the case, your attorney can provide you with options for having one appointed.
Once the Probate Court has provided the Administrator with Letters of Administration, that person will have legal authority to investigate what assets and debts your loved one had before they passed. The Letters will also allow the Administrator to act on behalf of the deceased. The Administrator will be able to sell the deceased’s home with the approval of the Probate Court. They will also be able to access the deceased person’s bank accounts and settle their debts. You can find additional details about the contents and effect of the Letters of Administration in the Nevada Revised Statues, Section 141. Be aware, however, that an administrator must follow specific rules as outlined in Title 12 and will have to report directly to the Probate Court on how the estate is being administered.
Who can serve as an Administrator of an Estate in Nevada?
There are some basic prerequisites that a person must meet if they wish to serve as an Administrator. To serve as an Administrator, a person cannot have been convicted of a felony, be under 18 years of age, have any conflicts of interest, or live outside of the State of Nevada. These prerequisites are outlined in more detail in the Nevada Revised Statutes, Section 139.010. Included in the statute is a procedure for allowing people living outside of Nevada to serve as an Administrator, however, I will leave the details of this particular situation for another time.
What does an Administrator of an Estate do?
Serving as the administrator of an estate includes many different responsibilities. The administrator is charged with gathering the deceased’s assets, determining their debts, ensuring that their property is secure (meaning that it is not distributed incorrectly), and providing accountings of the estate to the Probate Court of Nevada. The administrator is accountable to the Probate Court throughout the process so that the court can ensure that the estate is being managed according to the laws outlined in Title 12. The important thing to take away from this is that simply because a person is appointed as administrator of an estate does not mean that they can handle the estate’s assets however they see fit. Your attorney will be a valuable tool for carrying out these tasks correctly and lawfully.
It is also important to note that this is the phase of the probate process in which the administrator can sell the deceased person’s home. This too must be overseen by the Probate Court, meaning that the court must “confirm” the sale. This process, most commonly known as Real Property Probate Sales, has many nuances of it’s own and will therefore be a topic for a future blog post dedicated exclusively to parsing the subject.
Another task the administrator must execute is to publish notice to any creditors with whom the deceased had debt. Essentially this means that if the deceased died with credit card debt, that credit card company must receive notice so that they can make a claim with the Probate Court to have that debt paid from the estate. Credit card debt is not the only type of debt that requires notification and must be settled through court, however, this is another complex issue which merits it’s own article in the near future. If you’d like to explore the details of this process on your own they can be found in the Nevada Revised Statutes, Section 147.
Final Accountings and Closing the Estate
Once all the deceased’s assets are located and secured and all of the creditor claims are handled, the administrator must prepare a final accounting of the estate’s assets for the Probate Court. Essentially this is a report of how the deceased person’s assets were distributed to satisfy debts, and which heirs will be receiving certain assets that are left. After the final accounting is approved by the court, the administrator can be relieved of duty by the Probate Court and the heirs will receive their inheritance.
What I have outlined here has been a very basic explanation of the major steps one has to take to complete the probate process in Nevada. Of course, each estate presents different challenges and different legal requirements not discussed here. If you would like to explore the law in greater detail, you can find the Nevada Probate procedure in Title 12 of the Nevada Revised Statutes.
While probate can differ depending on the size of the estate, the process is best avoided entirely. Consulting with an attorney to prepare your estate ahead of time is the best gift you can give to those you will leave behind.
If you have been tasked with administrating an estate in probate or simply need to lodge a will with the court, Fortress Law & Realty can help you through the process. Visit our contact page to schedule a phone consultation free of charge.