MISSING DEADLINES FOR DIYers

           This article is about deadlines and “Do It Yourself” mistakes.  We have all missed deadlines of one kind or another and we kick ourselves when we are to blame.  In the hustle and bustle of today’s busy world, we often neglect to take care of matters in a timely fashion.  Call it procrastination or whatever else you want to call it but delay often has consequences. 

           Some of the most common examples of this include forgetting to make the payment on a credit card and being hit with a late fee, not setting up direct bill pay and having to take time off work to run over and pay the electric bill or phone bill.  Waiting until the last minute to purchase tickets to see your favorite artist in concert, only to learn the only available seats left are in the nosebleed section. Running late to see a child’s performance at school and having to sit in the back or getting to the wedding late and not finding a parking spot. Or, heaven forbid, forgetting to thaw the turkey in time for Thanksgiving!  This article is for anyone who has ever learned the hard way, that it is sometimes best to hire a professional than to try and fix it yourself.  Often, you will spend more money and make matters worse, than if you had just hired a professional in the first place. 

            The probate court is also a place where you must be especially aware of deadlines and trying to DIY can be problematic and, in many cases, irreversible. For example, if an estate is opened after the death of a loved one, all interested parties are informed via mail in a timely manner.  If, however, you disagree with what is has occurred, you only have 30 days from receipt of notice to file an objection regarding the administration and closing of the estate.  Otherwise you lose your right to object.  As busy as life is today, it is easy to overlook and miss a 30-day window toward redress.

           If you are a creditor of the estate, in some instances you only have 60 days to file your claim, in other instances you have 8 months and at other times you may have one year after the death of the individual.  Again, if you miss the deadline, you are forever barred from seeking recompense from the estate.  If your deceased spouse had a will but failed to leave you anything, you have a right to receive 1/3 of the estate.  But you must file a claim for your spousal share within 8 months from the date of death or 6 months from the probate of the will or 30 days after an action to set aside the will, whichever is later, or you will be forever barred from receiving your spousal share.  If you an omitted spouse, in other words, you married your spouse after he or she executed their will and they never changed the will after you were married, you are also entitled to a share of your spouse’s probate estate. But here too, there are deadlines that cannot be overlooked.  Another deadline is an action to contest a will.  If a will is informally probated by the probate court, you have 8 months from the informal probate or 1 year from the decedent’s death, whichever is later, to contest the will otherwise you are barred.  A creditor who’s claim has been disallowed by an estate representative only has 30 days to file a petition objecting to the disallowance.  Failure to timely file the petition is another complete bar to recovering the claim.  And, a very big deadline that can easily be missed is if there is an order you disagree with, you only have 10 days to file an appeal, not 30 days as is the timeframe in most courts.

            Although many documents can be completed and filed in the probate court without the help of an experienced attorney, others are highly complex and require a person with training and experience to properly handle such matters.  Just sitting on your rights trying to figure out whether you need legal assistance often results in the loss of rights. 

           I often think of the times when my husband and I were much younger, poorer, and just starting out on our own.  When we bought our first house, a small farmhouse, it was already old and needed many repairs.  We loved the charms of the old place and my husband tried to save money by attempting to fix things around the house himself.  Needless to say, it often cost far more in frustration, time, and money spent for him to fix something than if he had hired a professional in the first place.  God love him, but as a young husband, he had never replaced a hot water heater, the pump on the well, repaired a dishwasher, dryer, washing machine, refrigerator, light switches, any type of electrical wiring, home insulation, etc.….  Well, you get the idea.  By the time he had figured out which parts were broken and purchased them along with the expensive tools that were needed for that job and only that job, we could have saved a lot of money and quite a few curse words and bloody knuckles in the process if he’d just hired a professional to fix his problem. We now have a garage full of extra, “spare” parts to just about everything, all the old broken parts he claims he may need one day, and a fortune in one-off tools from Lowes, Home Depot and every hardware store from here to Augusta.  Needless to say, he should have hired a professional from the start!

           I often am reminded of Reinhold Niebuhr’s words in The Serenity Prayer; “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."  When we are young and inexperienced, we often do not have the wisdom to know the difference between the things in life we can do ourselves, and other, more complicated things that we wish we had hired a professional to handle for us.  The probate court and matters that come before it can also require that we have the wisdom to know the things we can handle and those that we cannot. 

            In conclusion, understand that many routine matters in the probate court can be handled by an individual, without the need for an attorney. Others, especially the protection of rights, are more complex and time-sensitive, and seeking professional advice is always a good idea.  Many of the matters before the probate court, like other courts, have deadlines with real consequences. If you have an interest in a legal proceeding in the probate court, you will need to decide whether you have the time, expertise, and disposition to DIY or if you should try and seek out legal advice.  Sometimes it can be worth hiring a professional from the start so as to avoid a lot of frustration, loss of time and money, and what’s worse, the loss of your rights. As in The Serenity Prayer, I hope you have the wisdom to know the difference.

(The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and is of a general nature. The information should not be construed as legal advice. If you have any questions about the subject matter of this article or related matters, you should consult with a professional advisor. Deirdre W. Edmonds previously served for twelve years as Horry County Probate Judge and is currently the owner of The Law Office of Deirdre W. Edmonds, PA, located at 1500 Highway 17 North, The Courtyard, Suite 213, Surfside Beach, SC  29575.  The Law Office of Deirdre W. Edmonds, PA focuses on estate planning, probate administration, probate and trust litigation, disability planning and elder law.  Contact Deirdre W. Edmonds via Telephone: (843) 232-0654; Website: www.dedmondslaw.com; and Email: dedmonds@dedmondslaw.com).