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A corporation is a separate legal entity from its owners. A corporation can be owned by one person or many people. The corporation is formed under the laws of the state in which it is operating, with Articles of Incorporation or Certificate of Formation.

A small estate affidavit will not always work, however. In some situations, you may need a determination of heirship. If you find yourself in this situation, make sure you have an experienced attorney to guide you through the steps involved. Otherwise, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the process.

If you are in the market to purchase a home, you probably already know you should start shopping for a real estate agent and mortgage lender. But, do you also need a lawyer?

When a loved one dies without a Will, you have two options: determination of heirship or Affidavit of Heirship. These are the steps involved in both proceedings, as well as best practices to follow.

The thought of having to do a probate for a deceased loved one is often scary. Although the legal process can appear complicated to a layman, an experienced probate attorney can comfortably guide you through the process.

Entering into a legal contract to lease property can be overwhelming and confusing, and you may be uncertain what you are committing yourself to. Whether you are looking to sign a residential or commercial lease, having an attorney assist you can be helpful and will ease your concerns.

If your loved one died without a Will, transferring his or her assets to beneficiaries can be quite difficult. If no action is taken, assets will not be properly transferred and the beneficiaries will have to take some legal action down the road to straighten out the situation. In some cases, a costly determination of heirship proceeding and dependent administration of the estate may be required.

I have addressed in another blog several steps that can be taken as part of the estate planning process that help avoid the need for probate. If those steps were not taken, a full probate still may not be needed.

One of my biggest pet peeves over the years has been the over-selling of living trust packages to folks doing their estate planning. There are definitely times when a living trust is a good estate planning tool. However, for many individuals a living trust is an unnecessary expense.

In this series of blogs, I am outlining various different types of probates or probate alternatives to settle an estate and their likely costs. As I mentioned in the introduction to this series, the cost is predominantly determined by the type of procedure followed.