the creditors are very specific portion

of the probate process so in the state

of Colorado if a probate is opened and

someone has passed within a year there’s

a requirement for a four-month creditor

period typically what this process

entails is filing in a local newspaper

or a local publication where basically

you’re putting out an ad saying okay

this individual passed away file your

creditor claims through this probated

estate what happens next is if there are

outlying creditors it can go in a

particular sort of hierarchical aspect

where if those that have secured

interest so let’s say for example a

mortgage obviously they have a

collateralized interest so they’re going

to be paid back based on that

collateralized interest they already

have a valid claim then there’s those

like medical bills or credit card bills

or any outstanding debts those

individuals would have to actually file

with the probated estate or they can

send a letter directly to the appointed

personal representative this is the

individual in charge of the

administrative procedures behind the

estate and so they would file or send a

direct letter to that individual for the

estate saying that they’re owed x amount

of dollars for their creditor claim how

they’re paid back varies a lot of the

times what will typically happen is we

wait towards the end of the probate

still talk to those individuals still

negotiate with those creditors but

towards the end of the probate they will

be paid back based on that negotiation

negotiated price or let’s say there’s

not enough money in the actual estate

what happens in that realm is they get a

pro rat a share of whatever money is

left so let’s say for example you have

three creditor claims one’s worth fifty

thousand the other two are worth twenty

five thousand dollars each and there’s

only

let’s say there’s ninety thousand

dollars in the estate so what will

happen in that context is the fifty

thousand dollars will get fifty thousand

of that ninety that fifty percent of

that ninety thousand and then the other

two will get 25 of that ninety thousand

and so creditors can still be paid back

if there’s not enough money but a lot of

times hiring an attorney is highly

important because we can negotiate those

prices down on what they’re actually

referring to in their creditor claims

and we’ve saved our clients over a

million dollars by negotiating those

claims down

and a lot of times it’s a lot of big

corporations and items along those lines

that are filing claims and sometimes

people just get bills and they don’t

know and they just end up paying those

instead and so it’s highly important to

even just have a conversation and say

hey I’ve received all these creditor

claims am I responsible for them there

is no probate open there is a probate

open what’s sort of the next steps in

that regard