IF it is essential that you talk personally to your attorney, leave a detailed message and your attorney will return the call as soon as possible. This means that neither the attorney nor the personal representative is required to make any Court appearance. Most matters are handled by mail and by the Register in Probate. This procedure is similar to the Informal Probate procedure except that it requires Court appearances by the attorney and the personal representative. Consequently, this procedure may take longer and is usually more costly.
Formal probate is used only when there are significant disputes in the estate.
Probate documents are filed at specific times and for specific purposes. Some of the most frequently encountered documents and the most important ones are discussed here. A petition or application is the document used to initiate the probate process. Usually we can have the interested parties waive notice of the initial hearing and can often have a personal representative appointed in a very short time. Creditors will then have three months in which to file any claim they may have against the estate with the Court or Probate Registrar.