An estate executor, also called the personal representative or estate administrator, has to be prepared to perform a number of specific actions when representing an estate. Though you don’t have to be a lawyer or financial expert to serve as an executor, you will need to be able to comply with specific Florida probate laws that direct how you have to act. Here’s a brief list of some of the tasks you may have to perform.
Manage Property
Probate can take a long time, and as executor it’s your responsibility to find and care for all of the estate property. This means you may, for example, have to determine what real estate the decedent owned and make arrangements so that the property is properly cared for until it can be transferred to new owners.
Determine Inheritors
All states have probate laws that determine who will inherit the decedent’s property, but it’s up to you to determine who the actual heirs are. Whether the decedent left behind a last will, living trust, or died intestate, it is the executor’s duty to determine who inherits as directed by the law.
Tackle the Bureaucracy
There are a lot of minor tasks that executors may have to perform as part of the estate settlement process. For example, you will have to notify credit card companies of the decedent’s death, as well as notify any relevant government agencies such as Medicaid, the Department of Veterans Affairs, or the Social Security Administration.
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