Taxation & Estate Planning

Closing a Probate Estate, Part 2

By Joel A. Schoenmeyer

So (picking up from Part 1) -- you've sent a final report and an accounting to the beneficiaries. Now what?

Well, you also need to get signed receipts from them. For beneficiaries who receive a specific item of property or set amount of money in the decedent's Will, a very simple receipt will suffice.

If a beneficiary is receiving a share of the estate, which is affected by attorney's fee and the personal representative's fee (if any), then the beneficiary needs to sign a receipt and consent to the payment of those fees.

In any event, receipts have to be returned BEFORE the distributions are made (or at the same time), for reasons I detail here.

In order to close the estate, the attorney will go to court with the original final report, and receipts for all beneficiaries. Once those documents have been presented to the court, the court will issue an order of discharge, releasing the personal representative from his or her duties. The estate is then considered officially closed.

Full post as published by Death and Taxes Blog on April 16, 2009 (boomark / email).