As president of the Ziebold Law Group in Irvine, California, and a partner in Million Voorhees Ziebold, LLP, in Costa Mesa, California, Mark Ziebold counsels clients in the preservation of assets. Mark Ziebold stands out as one of fewer than 100 attorneys in California to hold specialization certifications by the state bar of California in taxation as well as in estate planning, trust, and probate law.
In California, an estate must pass through probate if the total value of nonexempt assets is over $150,000. This excludes any assets that by their nature do not have to go through probate, such as assets held in joint tenancy, in a living trust, or as community property with rights of survivorship with a spouse. Assets having a designated beneficiary, through a beneficiary designation form, such as death benefits from a life insurance policy or assets held in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or 401(K) retirement account.
If there are other assets eligible for probate, the court will supervise the gathering and distribution thereof. The process begins with the delivery of the original will to the court and the filing of a petition for probate in the county where the deceased person lived.
The court then schedules a hearing, during which it approves of the person responsible for distributing assets. This may be the executor named in the will or a court-appointed administrator, the latter being the case if no will was present.
The confirmed individual must then prepare an inventory of assets, notify creditors, and pay the deceased person's final expenses. The representative must also file a final tax return for the decedent, ongoing tax returns for the estate for each year that it is open, and pay any taxes due, after which time he or she can file a petition for closure of the estate.
Once all of the deceased's financial obligations are paid, the representative can seek court approval to distribute estate assets to the beneficiaries of the estate in accordance with the terms of the will. He or she shall then submit a court report that verifies the completion of this process. The executor's or administrator's duties are then complete, pending court approval.
