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Contact: Mary Thuell at mthuell@halt.org or (202) 887-8255
Probate, the legal process by which you prove a will is valid and settle an estate, is among the most common legal procedures in the U.S. Yet the overwhelming majority of state courts fail to offer legal consumers basic online information and resources, according to a survey conducted by HALT - An Organization of Americans for Legal Reform.
In HALT's survey of online probate resources, 29 states received failing grades because they offer no or minimal information about settling an estate, leaving consumers with little choice but to hire an attorney and pay expensive legal fees.
"Consumers handle many legal tasks online - from filing taxes, to writing wills, to conducting business transactions," said HALT Program Director Theresa Meehan Rudy. "They should also be able to handle routine probate matters online, but far too many courts fail to post the information they need."
HALT's survey shows that only a handful of states support consumers who want to tackle probate with excellent probate guides and fill-in-the-blank forms online.
New Hampshire scored highest in HALT's survey because its state court Web site offers detailed information about the probate process, links to local probate courts, provides timelines and checklists for executors and is the only state to provide step-by-step instructions for completing their forms online.
Tying for second place are Connecticut, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. While none provides the step-by-step instruction for filling in their forms that New Hampshire provides, all offer very good information. Washington, for example, features two excellent guides, When Someone Dies and Small Estate Proceedings with step-by-step instructions for administering and settling an estate, links to necessary forms, a glossary of legal terms, and a list of helpful contacts and resources.
To determine the usefulness of state's probate Web sites, HALT started with the simple question: If you need to probate an estate in the U.S., can you find resources online to help you complete the process without a lawyer? Specifically, we used straightforward search terms in a standard Internet search engine to see how easy it was to find:
information about each state’s probate process;
information on which court handles probate and contact information for that court;
step-by-step instructions for probating an estate;
online probate forms, along with detailed instructions for completing those forms; and
information and forms for settling a small estate (sometimes called informal probate).
For years HALT has encouraged states to simplify their probate process - especially for small estate administration. Simplifying procedures and providing assistance to nonlawyers would make probate more "user-friendly" and help more people avoid unnecessary legal costs.
Founded in 1978, HALT - An Organization of Americans for Legal Reform is a nonpartisan, nonprofit public interest organization. HALT pursues an aggressive education and advocacy program that challenges the legal establishment to improve access and accountability and reduce costs in the civil justice system.
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