The personal representative appointed by the court is responsible for the estate administration. Since the personal representative is handling money and assets for someone else – the decedent, beneficiaries, heirs, and creditors – the personal representative is in a fiduciary role and held to a high standard of responsibility and trust.
Probate & Trust Administration
The process of estate administration includes taking possession and control of estate assets, filing an inventory of the assets, paying the debts of the decedent, filing tax returns, and filing accountings itemizing and documenting all receipts, disbursements, and distributions of the assets. The Probate Law Firm handles all aspects of estate administration, employing professionals with a wide range of expertise.
The Probate Law Firm can also assist you with trust administration. If the decedent had a revocable living trust at the time of death, or a testamentary trust (created under the decedent’s last will and testament), the trust must be administered in many of the same ways as an estate. The trustee of the trust is responsible for taking possession and control of trust assets, paying debts associated with the trust and estate, filing tax returns, and may also be responsible for providing accountings itemizing and documenting all receipts, disbursements, and distributions of the trust assets.