Probate Virginia Wills – The Easy Way

When a loved one passes away, legal matters are the last thing you want to think about. But you may need to probate their will, so property can pass to the appropriate beneficiaries.

Probate in Virginia doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, if your loved one left behind an orderly will, probating the will is rather simple.

The easy way to probate a will in Virginia is with an ex parte proceeding. If the will is “self-proving,” you can simply present it to the appropriate court clerk for probate. A self-proving will contains an affidavit at the end that automatically testifies that the will was executed properly.

If the will isn’t self-proving, the will’s witnesses need to testify for the court that the will was properly executed.

Once you have taken care of this, the will is probated. For harmonious estates, this process speeds along the administration. You don’t even need the judge to handle this type of probate, just the clerk.

Importantly, remember that probating the will is not the entire estate administration process. Probating the will simply opens the estate for administration, at which point the executor can proceed to administer the estate.