Probate Procedure and Drafting

Catalog description

This course is designed to provide practical instruction to the probate process, specifically in the state of Kansas. This course is geared toward students who have had Decedents' Estates and Trusts and provides information on how to work with probate issues in a practical sense. The course focuses on drafting different probate documents for decedents' estates issues and trust administration. The course starts out with information on speaking with prospective clients initially, issue spotting, and advising new clients on different probate procedures (opening a probate estate versus a determination of descent). The course covers the pros and cons of different types of probate procedures, and when different procedures should be used at what times, along with alternate probate procedures and how to draft the necessary documents. Additionally, the course includes trust administration, including drafting exercises for the documents for a successful administration. The class combines theoretical knowledge of the laws governing decedents' estates and trusts with drafting skills and procedural instruction. In general, the course instructs students on how to take a fact pattern from a client, determine what probate procedure should be used, and decide how to draft the documents (pleadings, proposed orders, notice, etc.) for successful representation of the decedent's fiduciary. Prerequisite(s): Decedents' Estates and Trusts. Credit/No Credit