You Were Designated As Personal Representative: What You Need To Know

You have been designated as personal representative to administer an estate. This means you have become a fiduciary, and you are now entrusted and charged with the highest duty of trust and responsibility. Personal representatives are named as executors if the decedent had a will and as an administrator if the persons died without a Last Will and Testament.

In either case, as a personal representative, you will have specific duties while carrying out the administration of an estate, including but not limited to the following:

• Inventorying estate assets;
• Paying valid debts and liabilities of the decedent as appropriate, and at the appropriate time;
• Distributing assets lawfully;
• Filing necessary paperwork in the probate action;
• Providing necessary notices to beneficiaries and other interested parties;
• Undertaking to defend interests of the estate in the event litigation is filed against the estate;
• Maintaining certain estate assets so as not to diminish their value; and,
• Filing necessary tax documents.

Serving as a personal representative is a serious matter. If you are designated as one, contact our office to schedule a consultation to determine how we can help you navigate through the execution or administration of your loved one’s estate.