Probate is a court-supervised process to accomplish the transfer of property from a deceased individual to either the decedent’s beneficiaries as identified in the decedent’s will, or to the decedent’s heirs if the decedent died without a will. Probate is the legal process of administering the estate of a deceased person by resolving all claims and distributing the deceased person’s property according to a valid will.
A surrogate court decides the validity of a testator’s will. A probate interprets the instructions of the deceased and decides the executor as the personal representative of the estate. Furthermore, a probate adjudicates the interests of heirs and other parties who may have claims against the estate.