Legal Aspects of Death

The earthly possessions, known as the estate of the deceased, must be distributed after his death. Any assets that are left must be used to pay any debts, and any balance left must be lawfully distributed after payment of estate or death taxes. If the deceased owned or operated a business, the business must be administered and maintained in an orderly manner or must be liquidated.

In order to accomplish this process of distribution, legal, proceedings are necessary to decide how any property should be distributed and who is to be in charge of this distribution. Because of the technical nature of these proceedings and all the complications involved in settling the estate and distributing the assets, it is advisable that a lawyer be consulted.