The Thankless Job of the Personal Representative of a Deceased Person’s Estate

Congratulations on being your parents’ favorite child. You got to stay nearby and take care of them in their old age while your siblings only showed up on major holidays, spending an average of 350 days per year blissfully unaware of all the elder care you were doing. You wrangled them as they became increasingly stubborn, even as they depended on you more and more. Eventually, you communicated with the nursing home staff while your siblings minded their own business and posted their escapades on social media. Now that your parents are gone, and the will has left you and each of your siblings an equal share of the estate, you alone have the task of shepherding the estate through probate so that you can all receive your inheritance. If you think that being the personal representative of a deceased family member’s estate is a thankless job, you are not alone, and you can always rely on the help of a Dade City estate planning lawyer.

Calling All Chumps

What does the personal representative do? A lot of work for little reward, unless you are also a beneficiary of the will, and you inherit a lot of money. This is not usually what happens, though. Most people who appoint family members as personal representatives of their estates, as opposed to appointing lawyers, are of modest means, so even if you are a beneficiary of the estate you are representing in probate court, the experience is unlikely to make you wealthy.

First, you do paperwork. You round up the decedent’s will and petition the probate court to open the estate for probate. Then you collect the decedent’s mail until you receive billing statements from all the parties to whom the decedent owed money, and you notify them that the estate is open for probate, and this is their chance to collect any outstanding debts. You also notify the beneficiaries of the will and, if applicable, any disinherited close relatives. Just to make sure that you catch everyone who might want money from the estate before you get your inheritance, you also publish a notice in the newspaper inviting creditors and prospective heirs to submit their claims in probate court. You also file a final tax return for the decedent and pay any taxes from the estate’s funds.

Then you sit back and take the blame. The creditors fume because the estate does not have enough money to pay their debts in full, so they settle for a lesser amount. You sell the estate’s assets to settle the debts. The other beneficiaries, in their capacity as backseat drivers, are not content with the sale price you agree on with the buyers. When it is all finished, your siblings get the same modest inheritance that you get, and they are mad at you because they did not inherit more money.

Contact a Florida Estate Planning Attorney About Administering a Deceased Relative’s Estate

A probate attorney can help you fulfill your duties as the personal representative of a deceased family member’s estate.  Contact The Law Office of Laurie R. Chane in Dade City, Florida to discuss your case.

Source:

leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/Index.cfm/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0733/Sections/0733.502.html#:~:text=733.502%20Resignation%20of%20personal%20representative,not%20jeopardized%20by%20the%20resignation