Estate Administration

Estate administration is the process of making sure that, after the death of a loved one, his or her assets are properly accounted for and transferred, and his or her creditors are properly informed and paid as necessary. We realize that the death of a loved one is already a trying time without having to navigate the legal system, and we hope that by guiding the client from the start of the process to its conclusion we can help to ease the burden that a family may be experiencing.

We assist the personal representative in every step of the estate administration process. Among other services, we help a client to qualify as the Executor or the Administrator of the estate, to locate beneficiaries as necessary, to find out information about the decedent’s assets, to determine whether the decedent had any known creditors, to run a Notice to Creditors in the local newspaper, to file an Inventory of assets, to pay creditors as necessary, to transfer assets, to handle estate-related real property concerns, and to file a Final Accounting to close the estate. We can also help the client to determine whether there will be income, capital gains, or transfer tax issues to address and we can help them to work with a tax professional to do so.

The estate administration process is often surprisingly complex and can sometimes take a year or longer to complete. As a firm that has administered many hundreds of estates, we understand the process thoroughly and guide clients every step of the way.