Sandy Springs, GA Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

If you were never discharged as Administrator, the case was never closed and any heir or creditor can raise an issue with the Court concerning your failure to handle your duties properly.  If you believe you performed all of your duties and you have distributed all property of the estate, you should file a petition for discharge seeking to be relieved of any further obligations related to the estate.

I almost NEVER recommend adding your children to your real estate while you are still alive. Doing so makes a gift, generally a taxable one for which you need to file a gift tax return. It also exposes your real estate to your children's potential problems: divorce, creditor problems, etc. It can also create significant problems for you if you ever find yourself in need of Medicaid benefits for your own long-term care, and create problems for you for income tax purposes if the property is your principal residence and you sell the property during your lifetime. If you are considering adding your children to your real estate, you should first consult an estate planning attorney to discuss your reasons for thinking that you should do so and see whether there is a better way to address those concerns (there generally is). That being said, you do not have to use a quit claim deed to transfer interests in real estate. There are other types of deeds, and, in fact, it may often be preferable to use a Limited Warranty Deed or Warranty Deed to make a transfer with regard to real estate, because that can help preserve the benefits of any title insurance policy you may have on that property. But you DO have to use a deed to transfer an interest in real estate during your lifetime; there's not another way (at least not in Georgia--if you are in another state, that state's laws may allow for other kinds of transfers). The process of determining what kind of Will a person needs and what provisions that Will should have is ALWAYS estate planning. That's a large part of what that term means. The rest of estate planning means making sure that the person who is making the Will also has other needed documents, such as a Power of Attorney and and Advance Directive for Health Care, and helping the person make sure that any beneficiary designations and jointly owned assets will pass in the intended manner and not in a way that contradicts the intent. You don't have to be wealthy or have a complicated life to need estate planning. So no, I do not ever just help someone make a Will without engaging in estate planning. That being said, I have clients who have very simple Wills, as well as clients who have very complicated plans using all sorts of documents. Like many of my fellow estate planning attorneys, I am happy to work with people who need only simple planning as well as those whose needs are more complicated. The important part, from my perspective as an attorney, is that my clients need to be people who care what happens both during their lifetimes and after their deaths, and want to make sure things are done correctly. If you are interested in speaking to me, I do offer a free estate planning consultation. The purpose of the consultation is to determine the potential client's needs and goals, and develop an appropriate plan and a fee proposal. Best wishes to you.