Probate

Probate is the court supervised process of authenticating the will, gathering assets, paying bills, filing taxes, and distributing assets to beneficiaries. The much-maligned probate process occurs after death. Any assets owned in your individual name or made payable to your estate will go through probate.

It is important to make sure that the ownership of your assets aligns with your estate planning goals to avoid probate. If you own assets in the name of your trust or other contract (life insurance, annuity, retirement account) or as joint tenants with right of survivorship, those assets will bypass the probate process.

Why avoid probate?

Probate can be expensive, time-consuming, and public. Shocking to many of our clients, it’s actually less expensive to pay for trust planning and life-long maintenance than to pay for a cheap will and go through probate. It’s faster too – and much more private.

Many people don’t realize that probate takes months and sometimes years to meander through the courts. They certainly don’t realize that their assets, debts, beneficiaries, and beneficiary contact information will be listed at the courthouse for all to see. Unfortunately, probate is a public process that invites predators to flock in.

Our clients tend to want to keep their family and financial affairs private after their death just as they have done during their lifetime. We help clients meet these goals with trust planning and probate avoidance.

Of course, on occasion, an estate is so simple or small that probate is unnecessary, and a trust isn’t needed. Littleton Legal PLLC helps clients like you determine the best estate planning path for them. It’s never a one-size-fits-all situation.

Testimonials

Littleton Legal is to be commended for their promptness and professionalism preparing legal documents for my family. They were fantastic to work with on a schedule for our phone conversation and pick-up of our documents. I highly recommend Littleton Legal.

Arlynda S.

After our family friend passed away at 50 without a will or estate plan, I knew that I didn’t want my kids and spouse to go through the chaos my friend did. I can say that I have been thoroughly impressed with communication from their office. I like that Brittany has business experience and has answered questions about my LLC as well.

Melissa L.

I just want to Thank Littleton Legal for helping us with our Estate Planning and Will at a time that was very crucial that we get everything in order, and as many of us do we wait until something bad happens and then are trying to get everything done last minute. I cannot Thank Christy enough for being so kind to us and moving on things so quickly to get everything finalized when we already had so much going on, Thank You again to everyone at Littleton Legal, I plan on giving you more of my business and will refer you to as many people as I can!

Neovella S.

Littleton Legal helped my family with estate planning, and we felt very good having our options explained to us in a way that we understood. They were willing to help us with some non-traditional agreements we needed to include, and made sure we fully understood the potential impact of our choices in putting together our affairs. I am so glad that we started our marriage off this way; waiting until closer to the end of your life makes it much more difficult and emotional, as I have seen with our older relatives. Thanks Littleton Legal, for giving us the comfort of knowing our children won’t have to fight for our assets when we are gone.

Rebeka M.

I highly recommend the team at Littleton Legal for any needs related to estate planning, preparation and for a variety of business support services. Brittany and her team can help get you ready for the unexpected and will do it in a respectful and professional manner.

Kristi S.

I am the single parent of three and have a business, so getting my estate in order was not going to be an easy task, and I really needed to trust that the person doing it would do it correctly. I had worked around Littleton Legal for about three years and had considered them and several others for my estate work and very happily landed with Littleton Legal. Brittany and her team are knowledgeable, trustworthy, effective, and move quickly, which is what I was looking for. They use technology in a savvy way that saved me time and emotional energy. And, Brittany is always careful to explain why she is suggesting the strategy she’s suggesting and what the pros and cons are. I could not have found a better partner for my family’s financial security and I can’t recommend the firm highly enough.

Shelley C.

I co-counseled with Natalie on a probate matter involving foreign national. Natalie maintained a high level of integrity and kept the cost at a reasonable level. Eventually she negotiated for a resolution that’s in the client’s best interest. I’m impressed by the professionalism and would like to give her a shoutout.

Hansi M.

I couldn’t recommend working with Littleton Legal enough. Brittany and her team are professional, knowledgeable, and experienced. All of my questions were answered through my Estate planning. Brittany even made sure that questions I hadn’t thought to ask were answered as well. I’m so happy to have Littleton Legal on my side!

Jenn N.

Littleton Legal was a pleasure to work with from beginning to end. Their team helped my colleagues and me with issues around corporate formation and 501(c)(3) application. With the expert service of Littleton Legal, our nonprofit was granted tax-exempt status under 501(c)(3) as a public charity within a year of applying. Highly recommended for your business needs.

Marley S.

Brittany and her staff were so easy to work with. I went in not knowing a ton about estate planning and ended the process feeling confident in my understanding and of the decisions being made. There’s probably never a comfortable time to spend the money and effort on estate planning, but she has the process so streamlined that it was really painless. I highly recommend!

Allison H.

Why avoid probate?

How to Juggle Grief and Estate Administration Over the Holidays: Guidance from Broken Arrow Probate Attorneys

What is Probate: A Tulsa Attorney Explains

Protecting Your Family from Estate Fraud: A Local Probate Attorney’s Guide