Probate is the court process that officially validates a deceased person's will, appoints someone to manage their estate, and oversees the actual distribution of assets to the people entitled to receive them. * The process typically starts with the executor named in the will — usually a family member or close friend — filing the will with the local probate court within a specific window after the death. From there, the executor takes on real responsibility: locating and valuing all the deceased person's property, paying off outstanding debts and taxes owed by the estate, and only then distributing whatever remains to the heirs or beneficiaries. * A probate judge has to formally determine the will is legally valid, which usually involves a court hearing where every beneficiary named in the will has the right to review the document and either accept their role in it or raise an objection. * None of this happens quickly. Probate can begin almost immediately after death, but the American Bar Association estimates the average U.S. estate takes 6 to 9 months to fully probate — and that timeline stretches considerably longer if the estate includes property that's slow to sell, or if there are disputes or complicated tax issues involved. Cost follows a similar pattern: probate typically consumes roughly 2% to 5% of the total value of assets that pass through it, between court fees, executor compensation, and legal costs. * If someone dies without a valid will at all — or the court can't validate the one that exists — the estate becomes "intestate." In that situation, the court appoints an impartial administrator to handle the same basic process, but state law, not the deceased person's own wishes, determines exactly who inherits what.