How to Probate a Will As an Estate Executor?

When a person dies testate, his estate would be distributed according to his wish in his last will and testament. The process of disposition of testator's assets would be carried out by a person appointed as an executor in the will.

 

If you are appointed as an estate executor, and you are willing to accept it, you need to perform a lot of tasks including, but not limited to:

  • Notify death to testator's family, relatives and friends

  • Obtain death certificate of testator

  • Locate testator's last will

  • Distribute the copy of will contents to related parties

  • Arrange funeral ceremony

  • Pay off testator's debts and outstanding tax

  • Grant a probate

How to Probate a Will As an Estate Executor?

  • Locate testator's last will. As an executor, you would have been informed of the location of the will being kept.

  • Obtain the testator's death certificate. Submit testator's will and certified copy of the death certificate to the probate court.

  • After going through the contents of the will, the court appoints the estate executor officially. The executor would then be able to execute the will after receiving the letter of testamentary from the court.

  • Before starting to carry out his tasks, the executor is required to post a bond. This is to avoid executor runs away with the testator's assets. However, the bond posting can be waived if the testator has mentioned in his will, that the executor need not post a bond while executing the disposition of his estate.

  • The executor needs to gather all the assets of the testator and submit the inventory list to the probate court. In the process of gathering the assets, the executor may have to open a temporary bank account. He can only do so by obtaining testator's taxpayer ID number.

  • The executor then have to deal with claims by creditors against the estate. All the debts must be fully paid off if the estate is sufficient to do so. In case of the estate is not enough to pay off the debts, the state laws are to be referred as to which creditors the priorities should be given. As an executor who probates will, you must strictly follow the priority guidelines.

  • Before the estate can be distributed, the estate taxes have got to be paid off. The executor will need to wait until he receives the closing letter from Internal Revenue Service.

  • The balance estate can now be distributed according to the testator's will. Upon completing, he need to submit the final account to the probate court of to show the details of the inheritance.

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