What is probate?  As a probate attorney in Silver Spring, I hear this question a lot.  Simply put, probate is the process of transferring property after the person who owned it has passed away.  Generally, you must go through probate to transfer property from the deceased, known as the decedent, to the persons who will be receive the property.  Probate is also when the debts of the decedent, if any, are paid.  The process is sometimes called estate administration, but […]

Simply put, probate is the process of transferring property after the person who owned it has passed away.  Generally, you must go through probate to transfer property from the deceased to the person who is going to receive it.  Probate is also when the debts of the deceased, if any, are paid.  The process is sometimes called estate administration, but it is more commonly known as probate.  You probate the estate according to the will, following the will’s direction as […]

As I have mentioned before, I am a member of the Montgomery County Commission on Aging, and I co-chair the Commission’s Public Policy Committee.  The Commission released its 2018 Annual Report earlier this spring.  As the report summarizes, the Commission participated in a variety of activities during 2018, including studying the changing demographics of older adults in Montgomery County and holding a forum on diversity in the County’s older population.  The Commission held regular monthly meetings, where it heard presentations […]

I get this question a lot when people learn that I practice estate planning.  The answer is always it depends.  Whether a trust is an essential – or even a useful – part of your estate plan depends on your estate planning needs and wants.  Both a trust and a will allow you to name the beneficiaries of your assets.  Trusts can meet several needs as part of a comprehensive estate plan, and people use one or more trusts as […]

Our pets are part of our families.  One of the harder parts about having a pet is that they usually don’t live as long as we do.  But what happens to our pets if they outlive us?  Luckily, Maryland law allows you to set up a trust for the care of your pet, and you can set up a trust for your pet as part of your estate plan.  When setting up a trust to care for a pet, you […]