See what I did there? Can you tell this post is state specific to Utah ;-) Probate is the process after a person dies to pay any debts/taxes in the deceased person’s name, give someone legal authority to act in the name of the deceased person, and transfer assets/title that were in their name to living people/children. It can’t go any faster than 4 months, but often takes closer to 8-12 months. The initial part, where power is granted is pretty quick, and the speed and cost of probate is very much improved by having a Will versus not having any Will.  

In Utah, there is an informal probate process and a formal probate process. Generally, if you have a will, you can do the informal probate process which means that your estate won’t even have to go to court hearings, the person left in charge of your estate will just have to fill out the proper paperwork and file it with the court.