Probate and Estate Administration

Long Island Probate and Estate Administration Lawyers
Executor Duties Assistance Law Firm

Call 631-360-5600 Now for Help with New York Executor Duties 

Everyone has seen or heard advertisements for books, seminars or taped instructions on “how to avoid probate.” It is common for lawyers and financial planners to encourage people to set up trusts that will make probate unnecessary when their assets pass on to the next generation. 

However, at the Long Island law firm of Grabie & Grabie, LLP, Attorneys at Law, we do not hold to the idea that probate is necessarily something to avoid at all costs. It is simply one way by which someone’s assets are distributed after death, under the supervision of probate court. With a will, an executor follows the dictates of the will according to probate law, under the court’s supervision. Without a will, an estate administrator follows the court’s instructions according to probate law, but without advance directives from the deceased. 

Contact us to speak with lawyers who are experienced at guiding executors and estate administrators through the probate and estate administration process. We provide step by step guidance to executors and estate administrators through the entire process. We assist with all estate administrators’ and executors’ duties distributing life insurance proceeds to beneficiaries, selling a home if necessary, opening an estate account, paying the decedent’s bills, and preparing to distribute assets to each heir according to the court’s guidelines. We stay on call for family members for the entire 6-month to 3-year period that the settling of an estate usually involves.

Probate Administration | Wills and Estate Planning

We tell clients who are preparing wills that probate is a rare chance that someone has to ensure that a court will take full responsibility for seeing that her wishes are carried out.  “Probate” is from a Latin word meaning “approval,” and indeed, probate involves getting the court’s approval to allocate a deceased person’s assets to heirs according to her wishes, if she left a will.  If she did not leave a will, probate administration follows guidelines that the state has established as to how to distribute assets. Contact us, ideally before probate or estate administration becomes necessary for your family. Let us help you prepare a will or learn about estate planning. 

We assist individuals and families involved in probate and estate administration in Smithtown, New York, and neighboring communities on Long Island including Huntington, Stony Brook, Hauppauge, Islip, Babylon, and Commack, in the counties of Nassau and Suffolk. 

Grabie & Grabie, LLP, Attorneys at Law
162 Terry Road
Smithtown, NY   11787
phone:  631-360-5600
FAX:  631-360-3370