Guides for executors
New to this? Start with what an estate accounting is — it explains the document everything below feeds into, and ends with an index of all thirty guides in the order the job actually happens.
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Receipt and Release: The Document That Closes an Estate Safely
The last step before the checks go out. What the document does, what it should contain, and the options when a beneficiary won't sign it — including the one pressure tactic that gets executors in trouble.
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A Beneficiary Objected to Your Accounting: What Happens Next
An objection names line items, not character flaws. The entries that attract them most often, how the process unfolds, what a court can actually do — and why the winning response is documents rather than arguments.
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How to Prepare an Estate Accounting When Records Are Missing
You inherited a mess, or you made one. Rebuilding the accounting from the record that survives everything — the bank statements — how to request what you don't have, and how to disclose the gaps you can't close.
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Informal vs. Formal Estate Accounting: Which One Do You Need?
Most estates close on an accounting the beneficiaries simply sign. Some have to be filed with the court. How to tell which situation you're in, what each route costs, and why the numbers underneath are identical either way.
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A Beneficiary Is Demanding an Accounting: How to Respond as Executor
The letter arrived — maybe on a law firm's letterhead. What beneficiaries are entitled to, the responses that escalate things, and how a prompt reply plus a reconciled accounting usually ends the dispute before it reaches a courtroom.
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Court-Ordered Estate Accounting: What to Expect and How to Prepare
A judge has ordered a formal accounting. The schedules it must contain, the fiduciary math that has to balance, what objecting beneficiaries look for, and how to build it from the bank statements so it survives scrutiny.
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The Records That Protect an Executor From Personal Liability
Executors can be surcharged for money they can't explain. The specific documents to keep — date-of-death statements, a voucher behind every payment, signed distribution releases — and the three habits that make the records hold up.
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Executor Duties: A Step-by-Step Checklist
The whole job in order — securing assets, getting appointed, taking control of the finances, settling debts and taxes, and accounting before you distribute. A plain-English map of what comes next.
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How Much Does Probate Cost?
Court fees, attorney and executor fees, appraisals, bonds — where probate costs come from, who pays them (the estate), and the cheapest cost-cutter there is: clean records.
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Do All Estates Have to Go Through Probate?
No — what passes outside probate by beneficiary designation, joint ownership, or a trust, when a small-estate procedure applies, and why non-probate assets still need to be accounted for.
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Executor vs. Trustee: What's the Difference?
An executor settles an estate and finishes; a trustee manages a trust and continues. How the two fiduciary roles differ, where they overlap, and why both owe an accounting.
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How to Notify Creditors of a Death
A required step that actually protects the executor. Direct vs. published notice, the claim period that closes the door on late debts, and how to handle claims as they arrive.
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Can an Executor Also Be a Beneficiary?
Yes — and it's the norm. The self-dealing line you can't cross, the executor-fee tax trap, and why a clean accounting matters even more when you're on both sides.
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How to Remove an Executor of an Estate
A court can remove an executor for misconduct, neglect, or failure to account — but not for mere disagreement. The valid grounds, the petition process, and why evidence is everything.
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When Do Beneficiaries Get Paid?
Near the end, and on purpose — after debts and taxes are settled and the accounting is done. Why distributions come last, what can delay them, and how partial distributions work.
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Settling an Estate With No Will: The Administrator's Role
No will means no named executor — the court appoints an administrator instead. How you get appointed, who inherits under state intestacy law, and the accounting duties that apply just the same.
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How to Get Letters Testamentary
Being named in the will isn't enough — banks want the court's stamp of authority. What letters testamentary are, the step-by-step process to get them, what to bring, and why you need several copies.
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Can an Executor Sell Estate Property?
Often yes — but it depends on the will's power of sale, your state, and whether court approval or beneficiary consent is needed. What's allowed, the "fair price" rule, and how the proceeds must be accounted for.
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What Happens to Debt When Someone Dies?
Most debts are paid by the estate, not inherited by the family. How debts are handled in probate, the order they're paid, when a relative can be responsible, and why every payment has to show in the accounting.
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Estate Inventory vs. Accounting: What's the Difference?
The inventory is a snapshot of what the estate owned at the date of death; the accounting is the story of what happened to it. How the two documents differ, how they connect, and when each is due.
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The Executor's Final Accounting: What to Include
The report that closes the estate. The five sections every final accounting must show, how to build it straight from the bank statements, and why it has to reconcile to the penny before you distribute and close.
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How Long Does an Executor Have to Settle an Estate?
There's no single deadline, but there are expectations — and real reasons an estate takes the time it does. The fixed deadlines, the typical milestones, and what beneficiaries can do when it drags on.
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Can an Executor Be Paid? How Executor Fees Work
Executors can usually take a reasonable fee from the estate. How compensation is set by state, whether you should take it, and the income-tax catch that surprises family executors who are also beneficiaries.
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What Expenses Can an Executor Be Reimbursed For?
Executors can be repaid from the estate for reasonable out-of-pocket costs — court fees, funeral, travel, property upkeep, and more. What qualifies, what doesn't, and why every reimbursement needs a receipt.
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How to Close a Deceased Person's Bank Account
What happens to an account when someone dies, who's allowed to close it, the documents the bank asks for, and how payable-on-death and joint accounts are handled differently.
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What to Do If an Executor Refuses to Provide an Accounting
You're a beneficiary, months have passed, and the executor won't tell you what's happening to the money. What you're entitled to, how to request an accounting in writing, and how the probate court can compel one when an executor won't cooperate.
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What Is an Estate Accounting? An Executor's Plain-English Guide
The document a beneficiary, attorney, or court will ask you to produce. What an estate accounting must show, how to build one from the bank statements, and why every account has to reconcile before you distribute.
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The Estate Bank Account: What an Executor Needs to Know
Why you open a separate estate account instead of using your own, what you need to set one up, what flows through it, and how to keep its statements clean so the final accounting reconciles.
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Date-of-Death Account Balances: What They Are and How to Get Them
The starting figure your whole accounting is built on. What "date of death" value means, how to get a date-of-death balance from the bank, and why every reconciliation begins here.
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Do Beneficiaries Have a Right to See Estate Bank Statements?
Beneficiaries are generally entitled to an accounting of the estate. What that right covers, whether it includes the underlying bank statements, and how an executor should respond.
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Social Security Payments After Death: Do You Have to Pay Them Back?
If a Social Security payment arrived after your loved one died, you may have to return it. Here's why the month-of-death benefit is usually owed back, how the bank typically reclaims a direct deposit, and the steps an executor should take.