If a loved one has named you executor of their estate or has recently passed and left you to sort out their estate, you probably feel overwhelmed and wonder what exactly your legal responsibilities are. You are probably anxious to fulfill all the legal obligations to the state and your loved one’s wishes. As the executor of an estate, you’re responsible for protecting the various assets of your loved one, such as their house and savings, and making sure that their will or trust is followed. Here is a step-by-step guide to executing an estate.
1: Obtain Copies of the Death Certificate
As the executor of the estate, you’re responsible for arranging the funeral and burial of your loved one. This will often be laid out in their will, and will be paid out of the estate whenever financially possible. During the process, the funeral home will ask you how many copies you need of their death certificate. Since you will need a number of copies in order to notify life insurers, investment firms, banks, Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration, and a variety of other offices, you should order a large number of death certificates. Most experts recommend at least a dozen copies, even more if you’re unsure about your loved one’s exact assets.
2: Find the Will or Trust
Your loved one or their representative will likely know where the will or trust documents are kept. If they are unsure, try to find information in their records of any lawyers they may have used to make the will, since they will likely have a copy on file. You will need the will for the probate court – this will have to be filed within a month after the death.
If your loved one has a trust, you will be able to avoid the probate court, since trust assets can be distributed without court approval. If they have a will, however, a probate judge will have to rule on how those assets will be distributed. This will take anywhere from six months to two years, depending on the complexity of the will and how busy the probate courts are.
3: Find Professional Help
Once you have the trust documents or will in hand, you’ll want to find professional help to help ease the process. There are a wide variety of professionals who can help you sort out the details of a loved one’s estate. These include probate lawyers, estate attorneys, appraisers, and tax accountants. This is especially important with large estates or estates that have a wide variety of assets in different areas. According to Werner Law, probate lawyers in Newport Beach, “for larger estates, it is often wiser to take measures to minimize the probate process and cut down on the overall costs associated with the probate process by hiring an experienced law firm.”
4: Locate and Protect Assets
If you know that you will be the executor of the estate for a loved one, find an opportunity to discuss the will or trust and get a detailed list of assets and where they or their paperwork are located. This will make the process of executing the will immensely easier. This list should include all paperwork associated with wills and trusts, insurance information, investment accounts, details of funeral plans, property such as houses or artwork, and business interests. Hopefully, the deceased will have all of this in a safe in their home or in a safe deposit box. But in the event that the assets are less prepared, the attorney who dealt with the will should have a list of assets.
5: Pay Taxes and Bills
The estate is charged with paying the deceased person’s debts, which includes income tax and estate taxes. Fortunately, you are not on the hook if the deceased’s debts exceed the value of their estate. You or the beneficiaries of the will are not liable for covering them, but at the same time this scenario will likely deplete the estate and leave little-to-nothing for probate. Again, an estate lawyer will be able to help you sort through the deceased’s accounting and figure out what the estate owes.