If you’ve been named executor of a will, your job is to get legal authority from the probate court, then use that authority to collect the deceased person’s assets, pay their debts and taxes, and distribute what remains to the beneficiaries named in the will. The work is mostly administrative, usually takes nine months to two years, and carries real personal liability if you cut corners. Most people can handle it, especially with a probate attorney available for the harder questions.
Decide Whether to Accept the Job
Being named in a will doesn’t obligate you to serve. If you don’t want the role, decline before the court appoints you. Sign a written renunciation, have it notarized, and file it with the probate court. Once the court accepts the form, the alternate executor named in the will takes over, or the court appoints someone.
Resigning after the court has already issued Letters Testamentary is a different situation. You’ve been managing estate assets by that point, and the court has to account for everything you’ve done. That means filing a petition, scheduling a hearing, notifying all interested parties, and preparing a full accounting of every transaction. If you have doubts, decline early. The paperwork takes minutes before appointment and potentially months afterward.
Gather the Will, Death Certificates, and Financial Records
Start by securing the original will and ordering certified copies of the death certificate. Banks, insurers, and government agencies almost universally require a certified copy before they’ll release account information or funds, so plan on ordering at least ten. Fees vary by jurisdiction — some counties charge as little as $10 per copy, others $25 or more — and you can usually order through the funeral home or the local vital records office.
Then build a picture of what the deceased owned and owed. Track down bank accounts, investment portfolios, retirement accounts, real estate deeds, vehicle titles, life insurance policies, and any valuable personal property. Write down account numbers, current balances, and where physical items are located. On the debt side, gather information on mortgages, car loans, credit cards, medical bills, and any other outstanding obligations. These figures feed directly into the probate petition.
The petition itself requires the names and mailing addresses of everyone named in the will plus any legal heirs who would inherit if the will were invalid. You’ll also provide an estimated total value of the estate. Errors can delay the process by weeks and give someone grounds to challenge your paperwork.
Check Whether Full Probate Is Even Required
Not every estate needs to go through full probate. Every state offers some form of simplified procedure for smaller estates, and the thresholds are more generous than most people expect. Depending on the state, estates worth anywhere from a few thousand dollars to over $200,000 can qualify for shortened proceedings or skip probate court entirely through a small estate affidavit.
These procedures work because many states exclude certain kinds of property from the calculation. Jointly owned assets, property held in trusts, and sometimes vehicles and real estate don’t count toward the threshold. An estate with a $400,000 house held in joint tenancy and $30,000 in individual bank accounts might qualify as a small estate for probate purposes even though the total value is substantial. Check your state’s rules before filing a full petition.
File for Probate and Get Letters Testamentary
When full probate is required, file the petition at the probate court in the county where the deceased last lived. Filing fees range from under $50 in some jurisdictions to several hundred dollars in others, and some states scale the fee to the estate’s value. The clerk reviews the petition and the will for completeness, not substance; the will’s validity gets evaluated at the hearing.
After filing, you have to notify all beneficiaries, heirs, and known creditors that the proceeding has started. You also publish a notice in a local newspaper to alert unknown creditors. This publication period typically runs several weeks and gives people a window to file claims against the estate before assets get distributed.
A hearing follows. The judge confirms the will’s validity and evaluates whether you’re fit to serve. If everything checks out, the court issues Letters Testamentary — the document that gives you legal authority to act on behalf of the estate. Without it, no bank or title company will cooperate with you. With it, you can transfer property, close accounts, and handle legal matters as the estate’s representative.
Plan for the entire process to take at least nine months from filing to final distribution, and longer if the estate is complex, if beneficiaries are hard to locate, or if anyone contests the will. Contested estates can drag on for years.
Protect the Assets and Open an Estate Bank Account
Once you have Letters Testamentary, the real work begins. Your first priority is protecting estate property. That might mean changing locks on the deceased’s home, making sure insurance policies stay current, moving valuables to a secure location, and keeping up with mortgage or utility payments. Letting property fall into disrepair or an insurance policy lapse while you’re in charge is the kind of mistake that comes back to haunt you.
Open a dedicated bank account for the estate. This requires an Employer Identification Number from the IRS, which you can get online at no cost through the IRS website.1Internal Revenue Service. Information for Executors All estate income, insurance payouts, and asset liquidation proceeds flow into this account, and all estate expenses — funeral costs, legal fees, taxes, creditor payments — get paid out of it. Keeping estate money separate from your personal funds is non-negotiable.
Pay Creditors in the Right Order
After the notice period expires, review every claim and pay the valid ones from estate funds. When there isn’t enough money to cover everything, state law dictates a priority order. Funeral expenses, estate administration costs, and taxes almost always come first, with unsecured debts like credit cards at the bottom.
Paying a low-priority creditor before a high-priority one, or distributing money to beneficiaries before all debts are settled, can make you personally liable for the difference. This is one of the most common ways executors end up writing checks from their own accounts.
Throughout the process, treat every beneficiary impartially. The will dictates who gets what. Playing favorites or making side deals is a breach of your fiduciary duty. Keep detailed records of every dollar that comes in and goes out; you’ll need them for the final accounting.
File the Tax Returns
Tax filing is where many executors feel most overwhelmed, and it’s the area most likely to create personal liability if you get it wrong. You’re potentially responsible for up to three separate federal tax returns.
The first is a final Form 1040 for the deceased, covering income earned from January 1 through the date of death. The filing deadline is the same as it would be for any living taxpayer, typically April 15 of the following year. If the deceased was married, the surviving spouse can file a joint return. Write “deceased,” the person’s name, and the date of death across the top of a paper return.2Internal Revenue Service. Filing a Final Federal Tax Return for Someone Who Has Died
The second is Form 1041, the estate income tax return. If the estate itself earns $600 or more in gross income from interest, rent, dividends, or asset sales after the date of death, you need to file it. This catches more estates than people expect, because even a modest savings account and a few months of interest can push you over that threshold.3Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1041 and Schedules A, B, G, J, and K-1
The third is Form 706, the federal estate tax return. For 2026, estates valued at more than $15,000,000 must file Form 706 within nine months of the date of death. The vast majority of estates fall well below this threshold, but if the deceased was wealthy or owned significant real estate and business interests, evaluate this early with a tax professional.4Internal Revenue Service. Whats New – Estate and Gift Tax
Don’t forget state taxes. Many states impose their own estate or inheritance taxes, sometimes at thresholds well below the federal level. Missing a state filing deadline can generate penalties that come out of the estate, or out of your own pocket if the estate has already been distributed.
Bring in Professionals When You Need Them
Nothing requires you to handle this alone. Executors routinely hire probate attorneys to guide them through court filings, accountants to manage tax returns, and appraisers to value real estate or unusual assets. Professional fees are paid from estate funds, not from your personal bank account. Attorney and accountant fees are legitimate estate administration expenses that get paid before beneficiaries receive their distributions.
Whether to hire help depends on complexity. A straightforward estate with a single bank account, a house, and two beneficiaries can often be handled without a lawyer. An estate with business interests, property in multiple states, or family members who aren’t getting along almost certainly needs professional guidance. The cost of a probate attorney is usually far less than the cost of a mistake you’ll have to fix later.
Getting Paid for Your Work
Executors are entitled to compensation, and many people don’t realize this when they agree to serve. The will sometimes specifies a flat fee or percentage. When it doesn’t, state law controls. Roughly half the states set compensation as a percentage of the estate’s value on a sliding scale, generally in the range of 2% to 5%. The remaining states leave it to the probate court to determine reasonable compensation based on the estate’s size, complexity, and how much time you spent.
Executor fees are taxable income; the IRS treats them like any other payment for services. Some family member executors waive compensation, particularly when they’re also inheriting from the estate, since inherited assets aren’t taxable income but executor fees are. Whether waiving makes sense depends on your situation.
What You’re Personally on the Hook For
The fiduciary duty has teeth. If you make mistakes that cost the estate money — distributing assets before all debts are paid, failing to file required tax returns, letting property lose value through neglect, or misvaluing assets — the court can hold you personally responsible for the losses. That means paying out of your own funds to make beneficiaries or creditors whole.
Beneficiaries who believe you’re mismanaging the estate can petition the court to remove you, and judges do grant these petitions when the evidence supports it. Outright theft of estate assets is a criminal matter; state embezzlement and theft statutes apply, and convictions carry prison time. Even actions that fall short of theft but involve self-dealing or favoritism can result in civil liability and removal.
The best protection is transparency. Document every decision, keep every receipt, and communicate regularly with beneficiaries about the estate’s progress. When you’re unsure whether an action is proper, ask a probate attorney before you act rather than after.
Close the Estate
After all debts are paid, all tax returns are filed and cleared, and all assets are distributed according to the will, prepare a final accounting. This document summarizes every dollar that came into the estate and every dollar that went out: income received, debts paid, fees deducted, distributions made. File the accounting with the probate court. The judge reviews it, and beneficiaries get an opportunity to object if they believe something is off.
Once the judge approves the final accounting, the court formally releases you from your duties. At that point, your legal obligation to the estate ends.