When to Consider a ProbateCash Inheritance Advance.
Is a ProbateCash inheritance advance right for you, a family member, friend, or even a client? If you have been reading my blogs, you know that ProbateCash cares about our customers. We also care about our potential customers, those people who are considering whether a ProbateCash inheritance advance is the right option for them.
ProbateCash has funded tens of millions of dollars of inheritance advances to heirs of estates and beneficiaries of trusts throughout the country. Each person who takes a ProbateCash inheritance advance often has his or her own unique reasons for wanting or needing the inheritance advance.
This blog will focus on the questions and issues you may wish to consider before determining whether a ProbateCash inheritance advance makes the most sense for you at the current time (timing is often everything).
First, let’s confirm the most basic questions of whether a ProbateCash inheritance advance is a good option for you.
Are you an heir/beneficiary of an estate or a beneficiary or a trust? That first threshold question is not as easy to answer as some people think. In fact, there is often much dispute and confusion to who is actually entitled to an inheritance. Were you specifically named in a Will as a beneficiary of the estate entitled to an inheritance? If there wasn’t a Will, are you legally entitled to an inheritance pursuant to intestacy laws (laws that determine who receives an inheritance if the decedent passed away without a Will)? If you are unsure of whether you are entitled to an inheritance, contact ProbateCash and we can help you.
Assuming you are an heir or beneficiary of an estate, do you know what you are supposed to receive as your inheritance? The inheritance can be in the form of money in bank accounts, real estate property or other assets such as jewelry and paintings that will either be sold for cash or given to heirs outright pursuant to the Will or intestacy laws.
Now that you have confirmed you are (i) a beneficiary of an estate and (ii) the approximate amount of your inheritance, you can now consider whether a ProbateCash inheritance advance makes sense based on your personal needs. For the purposes of this hypothetical, let’s say that you, as a beneficiary of the estate, are entitled to an inheritance of approximately $100,000. But when and how is that $100,000 going to be paid to you pursuant to the probate case?
In most cases, the $100,000 inheritance may be conditioned upon real estate property that must be sold by the estate. How long will it take to sell the property and in what condition is the property? Let’s say it may take weeks or months to sell the property or that the property needs some work to prepare the property for sale. This scenario is likely a reason to consider receiving a ProbateCash inheritance advance. The ProbateCash inheritance advance can be used by you to help with life’s necessities such as rent, groceries, transportation, school supplies and other goods or services required in our everyday lives. Next, the ProbateCash inheritance advance can be used as an investment in the estate’s real property or other assets that must be sold to create cash for your inheritance. For example, if the estate property can be sold for $300,000 in the estate property’s current form, but a real estate agent believes the house can sell for closer to $400,000 if you can invest $25,000 in property repairs, a ProbateCash inheritance advance for that purpose would seem to be a sensible decision that would benefit you and the other beneficiaries of the estate.
By this time, you may or may not be familiar with the probate process. The probate process is the court procedure that is required to settle the decedent’s estate. That includes confirming who are the beneficiaries of the estate pursuant to a Will or intestacy laws and who has the legal authority to act on behalf of the estate. That person will be in charge of selling the estate home and following the rules of the probate process.
The probate process also protects potential creditors of the estate. When a person passes away, his or her debts are still living. Therefore, the probate process has a period of time in which potential creditors receive notice of the probate and are given a period of time to make claims against the estate. For example, if the decedent had significant medical bills, tax liens or even credit card debt, those creditors have an opportunity to seek payment from the estate. The claims that the probate Judge allows to be paid then are taken from the assets of the estate. This means that the beneficiaries of the estate will receive significantly less money than anticipated because some or all of their inheritance will be paid to satisfy the creditor’s claims. Why does this matter when considering a ProbateCash inheritance advance?
ProbateCash inheritance advances are non-recourse to you. That means that provided you do not mislead ProbateCash and are honest about your inheritance and what you know about the estate, a ProbateCash inheritance advance can make sense. If you take a ProbateCash inheritance advance before or during the time period in which the creditors can make a claim, ProbateCash takes the risk of whether those creditors’ claims could significantly reduce or eliminate your inheritance. For example, if you thought you were going to receive $100,000 as an inheritance, but a medical claim and tax lien against the decedent was made for an amount of $200,000, you probably would not receive your inheritance as a result of those claims. If you received a ProbateCash inheritance advance before the claims were made, you would not have to repay that advance if the creditor’s claims eliminated your inheritance leaving you unable to pay us back out of your share.
The probate process can also take a significant amount of time to complete. It’s important you communicate with the personal representative of the estate (the person with the legal authority to act on behalf of the estate) to determine the anticipated length of time before the probate case is concluded and you receive your inheritance. If the probate process is taking much longer than you anticipated and you have financial needs such as travel, school or activities for you or your children, a ProbateCash inheritance advance may be right for you. Besides the ProbateCash inheritance advance being non-recourse in the event a creditor’s claim wipes out your inheritance, a ProbateCash inheritance advance will buy you time to continue living your life while the probate process winds its way through the courts.
If you are reading this blog and you are the personal representative of the estate, you probably have special and additional reasons to consider a ProbateCash inheritance advance. These ProbateCash inheritance advances can be used by you, personally, assuming you are also a beneficiary of the estate, for the same reasons as any other beneficiary. But a ProbateCash inheritance advance can be an essential tool to help with the estate. As discussed, a ProbateCash inheritance advance may be used to help prepare an estate property for sale so the property will sell for much more money, a benefit for all of the estate’s heirs.
Furthermore, a ProbateCash inheritance advance may help with legal costs and fees of the probate process. Some probate lawyers want the legal fees and costs paid upfront in a retainer or as fees are earned by the lawyer. A ProbateCash inheritance advance for the purpose of paying such legal fees to the probate lawyer will ensure that the probate case will not be delayed as a result of non-payment of such legal fees or costs.
The probate case may also have adverse issues. Someone may challenge you to be the personal representative so as to have the legal authority to act on behalf of the estate. If there are such legal issues, a ProbateCash inheritance advance may make sense to ensure your legal rights are protected.
These are just some of the issues to consider when thinking about receiving a ProbateCash inheritance advance. There are certainly other issues to consider based on your family’s needs, the amount of your anticipated inheritance, the time it will take for the probate case to conclude, whether there are going to be claims made by creditors of the decedent and any adverse legal issues concerning the estate in the probate courts. Whatever your situation is, call ProbateCash to talk to one of our funding executive experts to help determine whether a ProbateCash inheritance advance is right for you.
And if you would like to read more about inheritance advances, you can learn even more with our Complete Inheritance Advance Guide.
