For an average estate, the court costs associated with the probate process will likely be under $1,000. For a $125,000 estate, the attorney’s fees might be around $3,000 or $4,000. The administrator fees should depend on the assets in the estate, but would likely be around $3,000 or $4,000. This means that after paying the estate costs and expenses, there would be about $115,000 left to pay the beneficiaries or pending bills. In most cases, the court is going to be the first to get their money, the attorney and administrator will get their money next, followed by the funeral home, and then the secured creditors.
Funeral bills vary. For instance, a nice funeral will cost around $12,000 to $15,000, while an average funeral will cost $7,000 to $9,000. Cremation, which is becoming increasingly common, costs about $2,000. However, the price for a cremation and an urn is beginning to increase because funeral homes are seeing an increase in demand. For example, a nice urn used to run for about $75 to $100, but now they can be purchased for thousands of dollars. Death is accompanied by a lot of emotion and funeral homes know that, so they make money by encouraging people to believe that they should purchase a really nice casket, nice flowers, and nice clothes.
The last step of the probate process is the final count, which is when all of the assets and debts in an estate are counted and any remaining money or property is transferred. If there is real money, the executor will simply distribute it amongst the beneficiaries by writing checks. Once all of those checks have cleared at the bank, the executor will give the statements to the bank and do a final count for the courts. The final count involves listing every asset in the estate and any disbursements that were made, and involves providing receipts, vouchers, and proof of transfers. All of this information is filed with the court, which will ensure that it all adds up to the precise amount that it should; if it does, the court will approve it and the probate process will be complete.
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