Disclaimer: Consumer legal fundings and advances are not loans under applicable financing laws. Rockpoint’s products are non-recourse, meaning if you don’t win your case, you don’t have to pay us back. Receiving financial support in connection with a legal case is typically (and oftentimes incorrectly) referred to as a “lawsuit loan” or “loan.” Therefore, for the ease of search references, these terms may be used in this context to refer to our funding products, but we maintain our separateness from consumer loan products in all legal aspects.
If you are going through the probate process for the first time, the time it takes to complete it may catch you off guard. Waiting a year or more to receive your money may have you considering using a probate funding service to receive a portion of your expected inheritance early. Rockpoint Probate Funding offers these kinds of funding services, focusing on trustworthy support for our clients.
One of the biggest worries people have about using probate funding services is what happens if the inheritance advance isn’t repaid. When you stick with a trustworthy funding company like Rockpoint Probate Funding, you get risk protection against this very circumstance. Learn more about the protection options available with inheritance advance funding and whether it may be right for you.
How Probate Funding Payback Works
When you accept money from an inheritance funding company, you should never have to worry about repayment. The legal documentation you sign says that the company receives the agreed amount directly from the probate court. The money you owe to the probate funding company for the inheritance advance never goes into your bank account.
As long as the inheritance is enough to cover the amount you received as an advance, you have no worries about paying the money back. Everything happens automatically when you rely on a trustworthy funding company.
Managing Risk With Probate Funding
One advantage of using a trusted probate advance service is that you mitigate the risk that your inherited estate assets will be less valuable than initially expected.
When you apply for probate advance funds, the funding company will seek documentation about the estate’s assets and the share you should receive. It creates an estimated value of your inheritance, basing the amount of probate funding you could receive on this estimate.
If the funding company overestimates your projected inheritance and gives you more than you can repay, you should not have to pay this extra amount out of pocket. Any trustworthy inheritance funding company will provide protection in this area. You should not have to suffer financially because the funding company made an error in its estimation.
What If You Don’t Receive Your Inheritance As Expected?
When you seek an inheritance advance from a funding company, it will request documentation that proves your eligibility as an heir of the decedent’s estate.
Your only obligation is to supply official documents that spell out exactly what is happening with the probate process and your expected inheritance. The probate funding company will verify the accuracy of the documents. If it awards you an inheritance advance based on these documents, the risk of repayment should be with the company.
You should bear no financial risk if something unexpected happens and your inheritance doesn’t materialize. You should not have to repay the money to the funding company.
However, not all funding companies provide this kind of assurance. Carefully read any agreements the funding company provides before you sign them. The agreement should clearly spell out the protection from having to repay money if the inheritance doesn’t happen.
A trustworthy inheritance funding company should let you have a legal professional or an accountant review these documents and the offer. At Rockpoint Probate Funding, we recommend that you seek advice from professionals to ensure the transparency of our process.
What If You Receive Less Inheritance Than Expected?
If the funding company approves your probate advance application, it gives you a percentage of your expected inheritance. It estimates the amount you could receive based on multiple factors related to the probate case.
The agreement for the probate advance spells out the amount the funding company receives out of the final inheritance after probate ends. It’s possible that the amount of your inheritance from the estate could be lower than estimated. What happens if your probate funding amount is more than what you receive in inheritance?
As long as you stick with a trustworthy probate advance company, you should be protected from this situation as well. The funding company takes on the risk when it agrees to give you a probate advance and should never demand that you pay back any amount over the actual value of your inheritance after probate.
Risk With a Predatory Lender
If you sign an agreement with a predatory probate funding lender, you may not have the same level of protection. If your inheritance falls through or is less than expected, the fine print may force you to repay this money.
Before you sign any agreement with a probate funding company, understand whether you’re getting protection against having to pay money out of pocket. Ask specifically about any portion of the agreement that shifts the risk to the funding company if it agrees to give you a certain amount as a probate advance.
Understand What Kind of Protection You Have for Probate Funding Repayments
Questions regarding probate funding repayment are common when people reach out to Rockpoint Probate Funding. We focus on providing non-recourse funding. This means clients do not have to repay the funds if something unexpectedly goes wrong with the probate process.
When probate delays the time for collecting your inheritance, you can trust us to help you safely receive the money you need now. Our inheritance advance services deliver transparency to our clients. We ensure you understand the process before agreeing to accept a probate funding offer from us.
Call us today at (888) 263-8588 for a free review of your probate situation.
