The duties of a personal representative run from the day a probate court appoints you until the day it formally discharges you: gather what the decedent owned, notify everyone with a stake, pay legitimate debts and taxes in the order the law requires, and transfer what remains to the people entitled to receive it. Every one of those steps is governed by a fiduciary standard, meaning the estate’s interests come before your own in every decision. Get it wrong and the losses can come out of your own pocket.
Whether you were named executor in a will or appointed administrator because there wasn’t one, the job itself is the same. So are the ways it can go sideways.
Getting Court Authority to Act
You have no legal power over the estate until a probate court says so. The court issues Letters Testamentary if there’s a will or Letters of Administration if there isn’t, and those papers are your proof of authority.1Legal Information Institute. Letters of Administration Banks, insurers, brokerage firms, and government agencies will all ask to see a certified copy before they discuss the decedent’s accounts with you. Ask the court clerk for several certified copies at the outset, because nearly every institution wants its own original.
Depending on your state and the terms of the will, the court may also require you to post a surety bond before you can begin acting. A bond operates as insurance protecting beneficiaries against mismanagement or theft. Many wills waive the bond, and courts often honor the waiver when all beneficiaries agree, but the court can require one anyway.
Setting Up the Estate’s Finances
Your first practical task after appointment is applying for an Employer Identification Number for the estate using IRS Form SS-4.2Internal Revenue Service. About Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification Number The EIN works like a Social Security number for the estate and is required before you can open a bank account in the estate’s name, receive interest payments, or file tax returns on the estate’s behalf. You should also file Form 56 to formally notify the IRS of your fiduciary relationship with the estate.3Internal Revenue Service. Publication 559, Survivors, Executors, and Administrators
Open a dedicated estate checking account using the new EIN. Every dollar flowing into or out of the estate should pass through it. Depositing estate funds into your personal account, even briefly, is commingling, and courts treat it as a serious breach of duty.
Notifying Beneficiaries, Heirs, and Creditors
Once you’re appointed, you have to notify everyone with a stake in the estate. That means all beneficiaries named in the will, all heirs who would inherit under state law if there were no will, and all creditors you know about or reasonably should know about. The notice to beneficiaries and heirs typically includes a copy of the will and information about their right to contest it or object to your appointment.
Creditor notice has two parts. You send direct written notice to every creditor you can identify from the decedent’s mail, financial records, and outstanding bills. You also publish a notice in a local newspaper to reach any creditors you don’t know about. Once published, creditors have a limited window to file claims, generally between two and six months, with some states allowing up to a year from the date of death. Creditors who miss the deadline are permanently barred from collecting, which is exactly why this step matters. Don’t skip the publication or rush the notice.
Taking Inventory and Protecting Assets
Building a complete picture of what the decedent owned is one of the most time-consuming parts of the job. You’ll work through mail, tax returns, bank and brokerage statements, real estate records, safe deposit boxes, and digital accounts. The goal is a full inventory filed with the probate court, typically within 60 to 90 days of your appointment, though deadlines vary by jurisdiction.
Professional appraisals are necessary for assets without an obvious market price: real estate, jewelry, artwork, collectibles, business interests. These appraisals establish fair market value as of the date of death, which becomes the tax basis for beneficiaries and determines the estate’s total value for tax purposes.
You’re personally responsible for keeping estate property safe and maintained until distribution. That means changing locks on vacant houses, keeping insurance in force, paying property taxes and utilities, securing vehicles, and preventing deterioration. If a house sits uninsured and a pipe bursts, that loss falls on you. Maintenance costs come out of the estate account, but the obligation to actually manage them is yours, and it continues until the court authorizes final distribution.
Assets That Aren’t Your Responsibility
Not everything the decedent owned is yours to administer. Assets that already name a living beneficiary or sit in certain ownership structures pass directly to the recipient outside of probate. Common examples: life insurance proceeds payable to a named beneficiary, retirement accounts and IRAs with beneficiary designations, payable-on-death bank accounts, transfer-on-death brokerage accounts, and property held in a living trust. You have no authority over those assets and shouldn’t try to collect them. They belong to the named beneficiary regardless of what the will says. Note their existence in your records, but mark them clearly as non-probate property.
Paying Debts in the Right Order
Not every bill that arrives is a valid claim. Review each one and decide whether it represents a legitimate debt the decedent actually owed. Reject claims that look inflated, are time-barred, or lack documentation. A creditor whose claim you reject can petition the court to override you, but the burden shifts to them to prove the debt.
When the estate has enough money to pay everything, this is straightforward. When it doesn’t, priority matters. State law sets a specific order, and while exact rankings differ, the general pattern looks like this:
- Administrative expenses: court fees, attorney fees, and your own compensation come first.
- Funeral and burial costs: typically next.
- Federal and state tax debts: the IRS has priority over most other creditors under federal law.
- Medical expenses of the last illness: often given priority in many states.
- General unsecured debts: credit cards, personal loans, and similar obligations come last.
Paying creditors out of order when the estate is insolvent is one of the fastest ways to create personal liability for yourself. Distribute money to a lower-priority creditor or to beneficiaries before satisfying higher-priority debts, and the shortchanged creditor can come after you personally for the difference.
Handling the Tax Returns
Taxes are where personal representatives most often get into trouble, partly because there are several different returns to track with deadlines that don’t line up.
The Decedent’s Final Form 1040
You must file a final income tax return for the decedent covering January 1 through the date of death.4Internal Revenue Service. File the Final Income Tax Returns of a Deceased Person Report all income earned during that period and claim any eligible deductions and credits. If the decedent hadn’t filed returns for prior years, those have to be filed too. The deadline is the same as it would have been for the living taxpayer: generally April 15 of the following year.
Estate Income Tax Return
If the estate earns more than $600 in gross income during administration, you must file Form 1041. This picks up income generated after death: interest accruing on bank accounts, dividends on stocks the estate still holds, rental income from estate property, and gains from selling estate assets. The estate may also need to pay quarterly estimated taxes if the income is significant.5Internal Revenue Service. File an Estate Tax Income Tax Return
Federal Estate Tax Return
The federal estate tax applies only to estates exceeding the basic exclusion amount, which is $15,000,000 for decedents dying in 2026.6Internal Revenue Service. What’s New — Estate and Gift Tax Estates above the threshold face a top rate of 40% on the excess. When a return is required, it must be filed within nine months of the date of death, though you can request an automatic six-month extension using Form 4768.7Internal Revenue Service. Frequently Asked Questions on Estate Taxes
Even when the estate is well below the threshold, filing Form 706 can still matter for married couples. The portability election lets a surviving spouse inherit the deceased spouse’s unused exclusion amount, effectively doubling the exemption available when the survivor eventually dies. To make the election, you must file a complete Form 706 within the normal deadline.8Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 706 If you miss that window, a simplified late-filing procedure allows the election up to five years after the date of death for estates that wouldn’t otherwise owe estate tax.7Internal Revenue Service. Frequently Asked Questions on Estate Taxes Skipping portability when it’s available can leave millions of dollars in tax shelter on the table for the surviving spouse.
Discharge From Personal Tax Liability
After filing all required returns, you can file Form 5495 to request formal discharge from personal liability for the decedent’s income, gift, and estate taxes. The IRS has nine months to notify you of any taxes due. Once you pay that amount, or if the IRS doesn’t respond within the nine-month window, you’re personally released from future tax deficiencies related to the estate. You can also request a prompt assessment, which shortens the IRS’s normal three-year assessment window to 18 months from the date of your written request.3Internal Revenue Service. Publication 559, Survivors, Executors, and Administrators Both tools are worth using to close the estate with certainty.
Distributing Assets and Closing the Estate
Distribution only happens after all debts, taxes, and administrative expenses are fully paid. Before transferring anything, most jurisdictions require you to prepare a final accounting and submit it to the court. The accounting shows every dollar the estate received and every dollar it spent during your administration. Beneficiaries have the right to review it and raise formal objections if they believe it contains errors or reflects mismanagement.
Once the court approves the accounting, you can transfer assets. Real estate requires new deeds. Vehicles need title transfers. Brokerage and bank accounts require paperwork with each institution. Physical items and remaining cash go to the people identified in the will or, without a will, according to your state’s intestacy rules.
Get a signed receipt and release from every beneficiary when they accept their share. The document does two things: the beneficiary acknowledges receiving what they’re entitled to, and they release you from further claims related to the estate. Once every beneficiary has signed, you petition the court for formal discharge. The court order closing the estate terminates your authority and releases you from ongoing liability for your administration. Without that discharge, you remain technically responsible for the estate indefinitely.
The Fiduciary Standard and Where Representatives Get Sued
The fiduciary standard governing personal representatives is the highest duty the law imposes. Two core obligations define it. Loyalty: you put the estate’s interests first in every transaction. Care: you manage estate assets with the same diligence a reasonable person would apply to their own affairs.
Most liability problems fall into a handful of categories:
- Commingling funds. Mixing estate money with your personal accounts, even briefly. If you can’t untangle which dollars belong to the estate, courts may treat the entire commingled amount as estate property.
- Self-dealing. Buying estate property for yourself, hiring your own company to provide services, or steering estate opportunities to yourself. Even transactions at fair market value can be voided without prior court approval.
- Premature distributions. Handing assets to beneficiaries before taxes are filed and creditors are paid. Under federal law, you can be held personally responsible for unpaid taxes up to the amount you distributed prematurely.
- Missing tax deadlines. The penalty for failing to file a required return falls on you personally, and the IRS does not consider reliance on an attorney or accountant to be reasonable cause for late filing.3Internal Revenue Service. Publication 559, Survivors, Executors, and Administrators
- Failing to protect assets. Letting property deteriorate, missing insurance renewals, or making imprudent investment choices with estate funds.
The remedy courts use when a representative breaches these duties is called a surcharge: the court orders you to repay the losses out of your own pocket. In severe cases, courts can also hold you in contempt, remove you from the role, and deny you compensation for your work. Beneficiaries or other interested parties can petition for removal when they can show the estate is being harmed, and a removed representative may be ordered to reimburse the estate for losses caused by their conduct.
Getting Paid for the Work
You’re generally entitled to be paid. Some wills specify a fee. When they don’t, most states either set a statutory commission based on a percentage of the estate’s value or allow “reasonable compensation” determined by the court. Statutory percentages typically run from about 2% to 5% of the estate’s total value, often on a sliding scale that decreases as the estate gets larger. In reasonable-compensation states, courts weigh factors like the time you spent, the complexity of the estate, the skill required, and the results you achieved.
Whatever you receive is taxable income. If you’re handling the estate of a relative or friend as a one-time role, you report the fees on Schedule 1 of your Form 1040. If you serve as a fiduciary as a business, the income goes on Schedule C as self-employment income.3Internal Revenue Service. Publication 559, Survivors, Executors, and Administrators
How Long the Job Takes
Straightforward estates with cooperative beneficiaries and no contested claims typically close in six to nine months. Estates with real estate in multiple states, complex tax issues, or disputes among beneficiaries commonly take 12 to 18 months. Contested estates involving litigation over the will’s validity or a representative’s conduct can stretch past two years. The creditor notice period alone accounts for several months in most states, and nothing can be distributed until that window closes. Plan for at least a year on an estate of moderate complexity.