Probate is kind of a mysterious thing. In a lot of states, it is something you want to avoid. I speak with loads of very competent attorneys throughout the United States who only prepare revocable living trusts, and not wills--all so their clients will avoid probate.

In Texas, however, many attorneys prepare wills and know nothing about or just don’t like revocable living trusts. They claim that probate in Texas is not as time consuming or expensive as in other states. Nonetheless, there are numerous reasons why many people would prefer revocable living trusts instead of wills—the avoidance of probate is just one.

So, what is probate? Well, when someone dies, probate is the court process of paying bills and re-titling assets. Often times this becomes a necessity because a bank account becomes frozen by the financial institution upon death and the only way to “un-freeze” the account is to obtain the proper court documentation.

Step 1: Find the Original Will
If the deceased person had a will, the original one should be found. This is important. I once sent what I thought was an original will to court (it was even yellow stained from sitting around for years)—only to find out it didn’t pass the court’s ‘handwriting inspection.’ Evidently, I had a copy instead of the original. Fortunately, my client was later were able to find the original will without too much trouble. Albeit to say, the court wants the original will.

Step 2: Hire a Probate Attorney
It is probably best to bring the original will along with an original death certificate to a competent probate attorney’s office to get started on the probate process. Trying to muddle through the probate process on your own can be an overwhelming task, especially if you are also grieving the loss of a loved one.

Step 3: Prepare the Required Legal Documentation and Attend a Court Hearing
Your attorney will walk you through this stage of the court process. There are certain documents your attorney must prepare in the correct format and file with the probate court. In Texas, probate will occur in the county in which the deceased person resided. Once the documentation has been filed, most likely there will be a court hearing during which the “executor” named in the will must appear before a judge.

Step 4: Notifying the beneficiaries named in the will
In Texas, it is required that proper notice be given to all beneficiaries of the will. Beneficiaries are entitled to receive a copy of the will and an inventory of the assets and liabilities of the deceased person. There are certain time requirements placed on these required notices.

Step 5: Notify creditors
Part of the probate process is publicly notifying creditors of the death so they may have a chance to make a claim against the estate. There are certain time requirements and notice requirements as well. Proof of this notice must be filed with the probate court.

Step 6: Make sure all debts are paid
The deceased person may have had a debt on a home, a car, a credit card (or even multiple credit cards), etc. They will also most likely have to pay income and maybe estate tax. It is important that the debts are paid before making distributions to heirs named in the will.

Step 7: Distributions to heirs
The last thing to do—once all the other requirements have been met and creditors been paid—is to properly distribute the assets. The deceased’s name can come off accounts and titles, replacing it with the rightful heir.

Julia Nickerson is an estate attorney and probate attorney in Austin, Texas.