There are few moments in life quite as challenging as processing the loss of a loved one. When a parent passes away, families are left scrambling to put together the pieces while grieving. Throughout this process, your family will need to attend to matters of the state, addressing estate administration. What happens, however, if you lose a parent before they have created a will or if one simply cannot be found?

Let’s explore how to approach the loss of a parent without a last will in the state of Arizona.

Validate Whether a Will Has Been Made

Crafting a Last Will can be done at any point in time, so be sure to exhaust all measures before assuming your lost loved one did not have a will. Oftentimes, people will place important documents in privately secured locations without informing their loved ones. Check with the bank and any safety deposit box in your parents’ possession. Consider reaching out to a family attorney to see if they can be of assistance.

Once it has been verified that no will was put in place, you can move on to initiate intestate probate proceedings.

What Is Intestate Succession?

Before arriving before a probate judge, it helps to understand the process that is about to unfold. When an individual dies without a will put in place, the assets involved in their estate will go through intestate succession. Intestate succession allows any part of the estate not covered by a will to be passed directly to the decedent’s spouse or their heirs.

It is not unusual for intestate succession to create conflict within the family unit. The loss of a loved one can be an already stressful situation and that is only compounded by the stress, trials, and tribulations involved with the assets and the law.

Undergoing Probate Proceedings

In the state of Arizona, a family will undergo probate proceedings when a lost loved one does not have a will put in place. A local probate judge will oversee all assets within the estate for residents in Arizona before applying appropriate state laws to the assets involved in the estate.

As the probate proceedings unfold, the marital status of the deceased individual will place an increasingly important role in the outcome of the case. A surviving spouse will often have the strongest possible claim to any property left by the deceased spouse in question.

Blended families involve slightly more complicated proceedings. In a blended family where parents aren’t always biologically related to the children of deceased spouses, the surviving spouse will share the assets left behind with the deceased individual’s children.

Find Help at Dana Law Group

Dana Law Group is a prestigious and elite estate planning and probate law firm that specializes in trust administration for individuals and families throughout the great state of Arizona. Dana Law Group helps clients put a legal plan in place to ensure that their loved ones are protected.

Contact Dana Law Group for a consultation today!

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