Executor of Estate Checklist

The short version. Being named executor in a will is a nomination, not authority: the probate court generally issues letters of testamentary or a similar document authorizing you to act, and banks, brokerages, and agencies usually want to see it. And not everything belongs to the estate at all — jointly titled property, beneficiary-designated accounts, and trust assets normally follow their own path. Which means the first question is not how probate works but whether you need it at all: many estates never open a court case. An executor's duties then come down to five things: protect and gather the estate's property, follow the process the decedent's state and court require, handle valid obligations and taxes, keep a clean record, and transfer what remains to the people entitled to it. Very little of this has to happen this week, and the first thing to do is not a filing but a record.

The IRS uses personal representative as the umbrella term for an executor, an administrator, or anyone else in charge of a deceased person's property, and describes the primary duties as collecting the assets, paying creditors, and distributing what is left to heirs or other beneficiaries. This page says "executor" because that is the word most families use; your legal label depends on the state and on how you were appointed. Most of what people call an executor deadline is sequencing rather than law.

So the first practical step is not a filing. It is a record. Open a control sheet — a spreadsheet, a notebook, whatever you will actually keep — and write down where the person was domiciled, the county and court that covers that address, the date of death, where the original will is, whether anyone has been appointed yet, how each major asset is titled or designated, and whether the estate looks able to pay what it owes.

If you are carrying this alongside your own grief, or alongside a complicated relationship with the person who died, grief resources lists support that does not cost anything. If you or anyone in the family is in crisis, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline answers calls and texts at any hour.

Estate Made Clear is an independent publisher. This page is general process education, not legal, tax, or financial advice for your situation, and Estate Made Clear is not a law firm, court, government agency, tax preparer, or financial adviser. No one pays to appear on this page. Estate Made Clear is supported by advertising and, on some pages, disclosed referral links; this page carries no referral links and no sponsored placements, no provider has paid for placement or inclusion on it, and if a compensated link is added to this page, it will be disclosed here. Every legal, tax, and procedural statement below is sourced to a government, court, or agency publication, with the date it was checked, and state statutes and tax figures are re-checked at least annually and whenever an official source changes.

Where to start, depending on your situation

• You do not yet know which process applies. Start with the probate or surrogate's court that serves the county where the person lived, because that court publishes the forms, the sequence, and the local rules at no cost.
• Most of what you are holding is jointly owned property, retirement accounts, or life insurance. Start by sorting assets by title and beneficiary designation, because those transfers are usually handled by the institution rather than the court.
• The estate looks modest and is mostly personal property. Start by asking the clerk's office about a simplified or small-estate procedure, since each state sets its own eligibility rules and the clerk can say which form that court accepts.
• The estate may not be able to pay everything it owes, there is a dispute about the will or about who the heirs are, or there is real property in more than one state. Don't choose yet — pause and get professional review before you pay a creditor, sell property, or hand anything to a beneficiary.
• In every case. Confirm the procedure, forms, and any filing deadlines with the probate court clerk in the decedent's county before you file.

Now, soon, later, and only in some estates. Now is safety of people and property, insurance, the original will, and starting the record. Soon is the state, county, and court, whether you will serve, appointment or a simplified procedure, certified death certificates, and the tax workstreams once authority exists. Later is inventory, notices and claims, property, returns, the accounting, distribution, and closing. Only if applicable is formal probate, ancillary administration, estate or inheritance returns, business operations, contested matters, insolvency, and specialized benefits. Those labels are editorial sequencing, not legal deadlines: real deadlines come from a statute, a court rule, or a tax authority in a named jurisdiction, and you record those separately.

On this page

• Where to start, depending on your situation
• Before you act: the four gates, and what can wait
• Do you need a court proceeding at all?
  • What each route asks of you
  • If no proceeding is needed
  • Which route fits your situation
  • Find your state's threshold in about ten minutes
• Authority, jurisdiction, and which assets are in the estate
• The first 72 hours: protect property and create the record
• The first month: determine the process and set up administration
• Administration: collect, manage, verify, and account
• Closing: confirm, distribute, document, and discharge
• Deadlines that actually have consequences
  • Will-filing duties in sixteen states
• Stop signs: when to pause and get qualified help
• Use the tracker without creating a sensitive-data risk
• Words the court and the institutions will use
• Choosing the right kind of help
• Questions executors ask
• Your next step

Before you act: the four gates, and what can wait

Four answers set the order of your work. You do not need all of them today, but you should not sign, sell, pay, or distribute anything until you have them. This page calls them the four gates, and the rest of the checklist assumes you have passed through them.

Gate	Why it decides your next move	Where the answer comes from
Are you recognized, or only named?	A nomination does not by itself let you close an account, sell a car, or sign for the estate. Most institutions want a court-issued appointment document or another valid transfer path.	The probate court in the decedent's county; the institution holding each asset; the will or trust.
Which state and county control?	The state of domicile generally governs the main proceeding; the county court sets the forms, notices, and local practice. Real property elsewhere may need its own process.	The decedent's last permanent address; deeds for out-of-state property; that state's judiciary website.
Which assets are actually in the estate?	Assets passing by survivorship, beneficiary designation, or trust ownership usually never enter the probate estate, and a will does not override a valid beneficiary designation. Sort every asset before you promise anyone anything.	Account titling, deeds, beneficiary forms held by each institution, and trust documents.
Can the estate pay what it owes?	If debts, taxes, and expenses may exceed what the estate holds, distributions stop and payment order becomes a legal question.	A rough list of assets and known liabilities, plus the state's creditor-claim rules.

None of that asks you to reach a legal conclusion. It asks you to know which facts govern before you rely on any rule you read anywhere, including here.

Your first official step. With the domicile, county, and date of death written down, find the court that serves that county — USAGov's guide to federal, state, territory, county, and municipal courts links to each state's court website and identifies probate court as the one that handles wills and estates. Use that court's own forms and instructions rather than a form found elsewhere, and write the source and the date you checked it next to every date you copy into your log.

Do you need a court proceeding at all?

Some estates never open one. Whether yours does depends on what is left after the non-probate transfers have happened, on the decedent's state, and on whether real property is involved. Answer that before you learn a process you may not need.

The routes below are the realistic options, including the option of no proceeding. Nothing in this table is a national rule: the amounts, the waiting periods, the forms, and even the names of the procedures are set by the decedent's state, and the court that serves that county is where every cell gets confirmed. How probate works explains the stages a court process moves through and what makes one estate slower than another.

Route	Who may use it	Is a court involved?	Typical time	Typical cost, and who pays	What it does not resolve
No proceeding opened — no case is filed and no personal representative is appointed; assets move through the institutions or by operation of title	Anyone — this is a result, not an application	Usually none, though many states still require the original will to be filed	Days to a few months per institution	Death certificates, notarization, recording fees; paid by whoever handles the transfers	Debts, because no claim period runs; title to real property in the sole name; any dispute
Transfer by beneficiary designation, survivorship, or trust — the institution or the trust pays or retitles the asset directly to the person already named	The named beneficiary, surviving owner, or successor trustee	Usually none	Set by each institution's own process	The custodian's paperwork; the trust pays its own costs	Anything the designation or trust does not cover; a designation naming someone who died first
Small-estate affidavit or simplified procedure — a short court route, usually a filing with the clerk rather than a hearing, letting an eligible person collect and distribute a limited estate without a full appointment	Set by state law — often a spouse or heir, sometimes only after a waiting period	A filing with the clerk in many states; a brief hearing in others; no approval step at each transaction	Often the shortest court route; some states require a wait after death before filing	Filing fee from that court's own schedule; paid from what is collected	Real property in many states; estates over the state's threshold; disputes
Informal, independent, or unsupervised administration — a court appoints you, then lets you act on most matters without returning for permission	A person the court appoints, where the state offers this route	Yes — appointment, then generally no court approval for routine sales, payments, and distributions	Set by the creditor claim period and the court's calendar; no national figure	Filing fee, notice costs, possible bond premium, professional fees; paid from the estate	Contests, insolvency questions, anything the state reserves for court approval
Formal or supervised probate — the same appointment, but the court approves the significant steps as you go	A person the court appoints	Yes — appointment, plus a court order at steps such as selling real property, paying certain claims, and distributing	Longest of the court routes, because each approval step waits for the court's calendar	The same cost lines, usually more of them; paid from the estate	Nothing structurally, but it is the slowest and costliest way to reach the same place

Confidence: the structure of these routes is general operational guidance. Every amount, waiting period, form, and eligibility rule is state law — verify with the court that serves the decedent's county.

What each route asks of you

These are the fields that differ too much between routes to sit in the table above. A labeled value means the answer is not published nationally — the clerk in the decedent's county has it.

Route	Free version	Deadlines attached	Personal liability exposure	How to start	Get an attorney when	Evidence confidence
Transfer by designation, survivorship, or trust	Each institution's own claim form	None from this route, though the state's will-filing duty may still apply	Low for the named recipient; higher for anyone who hands on property that was not theirs to hand on	Ask each custodian in writing what it needs to release or retitle	A designation names someone who died first, the trust was never funded, or a co-owner disputes title	General guidance; each institution's requirements are its own policy
Small-estate affidavit or simplified procedure	Most state judiciaries publish the affidavit and instructions free, and self-help centers will often check a form	A waiting period is a condition before filing, not a deadline; will filing is separate	Moderate — a person who collects under an affidavit is generally accountable to a later-appointed fiduciary and to unpaid creditors	Subtract non-probate assets, then run the ten-minute threshold check for the amount, measure, waiting period, and form number	Real property is in the sole name, the estate is near the threshold, or anyone disputes it	Varies by state — not verified on this page
Informal, independent, or unsupervised administration	The self-help center and clerk explain the application; legal aid if you qualify by income	The creditor claim period once the state's trigger occurs, plus the notices statute and local rule require	This is where it concentrates — early distribution, commingling, self-dealing, failure to account, missed filings	Apply through the court serving the county, then order extra certified copies of your appointment document	Insolvency is possible, a claim is disputed, or you are asked to sell real property	Varies by state and by court — ask the probate clerk
Formal or supervised probate	The same self-help and clerk routes; the proceeding itself is not optional where the state requires it	The same claim period, plus court-set dates at each approval step	The same exposure, more of it reviewed by the court before it is final	The same petition, expecting hearings	Essentially always — the cases that land here are the contested, insolvent, and multi-state ones	Varies by state and by court — ask the probate clerk

If no proceeding is needed

The table row above carries the comparable fields. This is what sits behind them, because it is the option most guides leave out entirely.

What it is. No probate case is filed and no personal representative is appointed. Assets that pass outside probate — jointly titled property with survivorship, beneficiary-designated accounts, payable-on-death and transfer-on-death registrations, and assets already titled in a trust — transfer through the institution or by operation of title. Nothing else is collected or distributed.

When it applies. When everything the person owned passes outside probate, or when what remains is small enough, and of a kind, that no one needs court authority to reach it. The threshold that defines "small enough" varies by state, as does what counts toward it and whether real property is excluded.

What it does not resolve. Debts, above all. No one is appointed to give creditor notice or to run a claim period, which means claims are not cut off. It also does not clear title to real property in the decedent's sole name, resolve a dispute among heirs, or give anyone authority to sign for the estate later if something is discovered.

Personal liability exposure. Low for people receiving beneficiary-designated assets. Higher than it looks for anyone who informally distributes property that was not theirs to distribute, and for anyone who pays some of the decedent's creditors and not others out of what they received.

How to start. Pass the four gates. Sort every asset by title and beneficiary designation. Ask each institution what it requires to release or retitle without letters. Ask the clerk whether the will must be filed.

When to get an attorney instead. Real property in the decedent's sole name; more debts than assets; anyone disputing who receives what; property in a second state; a business interest; a beneficiary who is a minor or an incapacitated person.

Deadlines attached. None from this route itself. The state's duty to file or lodge the original will runs independently of whether a case is opened — see Will-filing duties in sixteen states.

Evidence confidence. General operational guidance. Whether it applies to a particular estate is state law and depends on the asset mix.

Which route fits your situation

Estate shape and your own role decide the route together. Find the row that matches both.

Situation and your role	Best-fit route	Free route to start with	Not appropriate when	Deadline in play	Next action
Everything passed by survivorship, designation, or a funded trust — spouse, beneficiary, or successor trustee, no court role	No proceeding opened	Each institution's claim process; the clerk answers the will-filing question free	A sole-name asset surfaces later, or a designation named someone who died first	The state's will-filing duty, if it applies	Sort every asset by title and designation; ask the clerk whether the will must still be filed
Surviving spouse, mostly joint or beneficiary-designated assets — acting as executor or simply handling transfers	Often no proceeding, or a simplified procedure for whatever remains	Institution claim processes; the clerk; Social Security and any pension for survivor benefits	The estate may be insolvent, or children from a prior marriage contest the will	The state's elective-share window, which is short and state-set; the federal portability election	Sort by title and designation, then ask a tax professional about portability well before nine months have passed
Modest estate, one state, mostly personal property, no dispute — named executor or an heir who may apply	Small-estate affidavit or simplified procedure	The court's own affidavit form and instructions; the self-help center	Real property is in the sole name, or the estate is near the threshold	Will filing, plus any waiting period before you may file	Check the county court's small-estate page for the amount, the measure, and the form number
No will, modest estate, an adult child stepping forward — prospective administrator	Small estate if eligible, otherwise informal or independent administration	Self-help center and clerk; legal aid if income-eligible	Another relative with equal or higher priority objects	Creditor claim period, once appointment occurs	Confirm with the clerk who has priority to apply; distribute nothing first
Real property in a second state, or a business or farm interest — appointed executor or administrator	Formal or supervised probate at domicile, plus a separate process where the property sits	Domicile-state self-help; the situs court's clerk for its requirements	Attempting either state's process without counsel	Both states' periods run independently	Get counsel at domicile before any sale or transfer; identify the situs court
Possible insolvency, a contested will, or a disputed heir — executor, or a relative deciding whether to apply	Pause and obtain professional review; a court and counsel matter	Legal aid if income-eligible; the bar's referral service; the clerk for procedure	Any distribution before priority is resolved	Creditor claim period; federal tax priority	Stop distributions, record what is already paid, get legal review before paying anyone else
A relative is living in or holding the house and will not cooperate — appointed executor, or an heir with no appointment	Formal or supervised probate, or a pause for review if you are not appointed yet	The clerk for procedure; legal aid if income-eligible	Removing an occupant yourself, in any circumstance	Creditor claim period once appointed; any court-set date	Do not change locks or remove anyone; confirm your authority in writing, then get counsel in that county before any step
Named but unwilling, or estranged from the person who died — nominated executor considering declining	Decline, then no role — or one limited-scope consultation first	The clerk explains what declining requires in that court	Acting partially while intending to decline	The will-filing duty still falls on whoever holds the will	File the will where the state requires it, then ask the clerk about renunciation
You want to know what is happening but hold no role — beneficiary or heir	No route; an information question, not an administration one	The court file in a formal proceeding is public; the clerk explains access	Treating an information request as authority to act	None running against you	Ask the personal representative in writing what stage the estate is at

Find your state's threshold in about ten minutes

1. List what is actually left. Remove everything that passes by survivorship, beneficiary designation, or trust. What remains is roughly what a court route would cover.
2. Open the probate court's page for the decedent's county and search for the simplified, summary, or small-estate procedure. Note the amount, what it counts, whether real property is excluded, any waiting period, and the form number.
3. Compare, and write down the source and the date you checked it. If the two numbers are close, or if real property is involved, ask the clerk rather than deciding from the page.

One state, as an illustration of how specific this gets: New York courts describe a small estate — formally a voluntary administration — as one where the person left less than $50,000 of personal property, with real property in the decedent's sole name taking the estate out of that procedure. The measure matters as much as the number: the Article 13 affidavit instructions published by the courts exclude property set off to a surviving spouse or children under EPTL § 5-3.1, and exclude joint accounts and payable-on-death registrations. New York's own pages are not consistent about the boundary — the CourtHelp page says less than $50,000 while the Surrogate's Court departmental pages and the affidavit packet say $50,000 or less — so if the estate is near the line, ask the Surrogate's Court in the decedent's county rather than deciding from a page. Reviewed August 2, 2026, and it tells you nothing about any other state. The small estate affidavit guide carries the state-by-state thresholds, what each one measures, waiting periods, and forms.

Authority, jurisdiction, and which assets are in the estate

The most expensive early mistakes come from acting on the wrong assumption about one of these three things. This section is what the four gates look like in practice.

Who holds authority, and where it comes from

Several people can be involved after a death, and only some of them can act for the estate. A will names who the deceased person wanted to serve; a court decides who actually serves and issues the document that proves it. In New York, for example, the state courts explain that the fiduciary is appointed by the judge in Surrogate's Court, that executors, administrators, and voluntary administrators all owe a fiduciary duty to the estate, and that the court may require a bond before appointment. Other states use different court names, documents, and bond rules — that is one state's practice, not a national one.

Role	What it covers	Who grants the authority, and is a court involved?	What it changes for you
Executor (named in a will)	The probate estate the will controls	Nominated by the will; in most states a court must appoint you and issue letters or an equivalent document	Until appointment, expect institutions to decline. Appointment adds court time, filing costs, sometimes a bond premium. After it, you answer to the court and the beneficiaries.
Administrator (no will, or the named executor cannot serve)	The same estate, distributed under the state's intestacy rules	Appointed by the court; state law sets who has priority to apply	Same court accountability, but the will does not direct who receives what. Establishing priority among relatives can add time.
Trustee	Only the assets titled in the trust	The trust document; usually no court appointment	Usually faster and outside the public court file, but still a fiduciary role with its own duties and recordkeeping.
Agent under a power of attorney	The person's affairs while they were living	The power-of-attorney document; not an estate role	It does not carry into estate administration. The IRS will not accept a power of attorney or a copy of the will as proof that you are the personal representative.
Beneficiary or heir	The right to receive, not the right to administer	A will, trust, beneficiary designation, or the state's intestacy rules	No authority to collect assets, pay claims, or sign for the estate — but generally entitled to information and, in a court proceeding, to an accounting.

How verified: the federal-tax roles, and the point that a court-issued appointment document rather than a will or power of attorney is what the IRS accepts as proof, are verified against IRS guidance reviewed August 2, 2026. The state-dependent boundaries — what each role may do before appointment, what the document is called, whether a bond is required — are partial until checked against the decedent's state judiciary source. The New York example is verified with limitation: one state's procedure only.

Domicile means the person's true permanent home, not necessarily where they died or where they were staying. Clerks explain procedure and identify forms but cannot give legal advice about your estate. Record the court name, the county, the clerk's contact path, and the date you verified each.

The two stops: solvency and conflict

If debts, taxes, expenses, and claims may exceed what the estate holds, stop distributions and get state-specific advice. Federal tax guidance is direct about the stakes. Publication 559 treats the decedent's and the estate's federal income tax liabilities as debts due to the United States. If you distribute the estate's assets while you knew federal tax was owed — or failed to take due care to find out — you can be held personally responsible for it. The measure of that exposure is what you paid to others first. There is one exception: a debt that itself has priority over debts due to the United States. That exception is why a secured creditor is a question for counsel and not an assumption. State law adds its own claim priority, which is not the order in which bills arrive.

The second stop is conflict — a disputed will, an unclear set of heirs, disagreeing co-executors, or a threat of litigation. Each changes what a reasonable next step looks like, and the stop signs below list the specific triggers. Naming the problem early is cheaper than unwinding a decision later.

The first 72 hours: protect property and create the record

This phase label is sequencing, not a deadline. The job here is narrow: stop losses, find the documents, and start writing things down — and none of it has to be done well, only done. The wider first-week work — funerals and their costs, family notifications, immediate benefits — belongs to what to do when someone dies.

• Locate the original will, any trust papers, deeds, vehicle titles, recent account statements, insurance policies, keys, passwords held offline, and the contact list. Record where each item was found, and do not remove originals from a secure location without noting who has them.
• Secure the home, vehicles, mail, pets, perishable property, valuables, and tools. Redirect or collect mail — it is often the fastest way to discover accounts nobody knew about.
• Keep insurance in force. Tell the insurer if a home will be unoccupied; vacancy can affect coverage under the policy's own terms, which is a contract question rather than a legal one.
• Preserve the services that prevent loss — heat, water, security monitoring, lawn care. Do not cancel utilities or subscriptions automatically; some are protecting property, and some are attached to automatic payments you have not traced yet.
• Photograph rooms and high-value items before anything moves. Start a possession log for keys, devices, documents, and anything removed, with the date and the person holding it.
• Route immediate risks to someone qualified: a vacant house in freezing weather, an unsafe vehicle, business payroll, expiring insurance, livestock, medications, firearms, or an unsecured digital account.
• Order certified copies of the death certificate through the official process for the state or jurisdiction where the death occurred. Institutions differ in how many they need and whether they return them, so order against the list you are building rather than a number you read online.
• Open the estate tracker. The field set is in Use the tracker without creating a sensitive-data risk below.

The notification workstream — banks, insurers, credit bureaus, agencies, employers, subscriptions, and digital platforms — is its own project with its own order of operations. Who to notify when someone dies carries that detail so this checklist can stay the spine.

The first month: determine the process and set up administration

This is the shift from preservation to lawful administration, and it is deliberately conditional. Some estates go through formal probate, some use an informal or unsupervised process, some qualify for a simplified procedure, some are handled entirely through a trust, beneficiary designations, or survivorship — and many involve two or three of those at once.

Map every asset, then confirm the process

For each item, record the exact title, any beneficiary designation, an approximate value, debts or liens against it, its location, the custodian, and whether authority to deal with it exists yet. Resist valuing or handing out sentimental property informally, however reasonable it feels in the moment. Then use the state judiciary or probate court site for the decedent's domicile to confirm which court serves the county, whether appointment is required for what you need to do, and which forms and notices that court uses.

Decide whether to serve

You may decline, and declining is not a failure. Weigh distance, time, health, co-executor dynamics, family conflict, the complexity of the assets, and any eligibility limits the state imposes. If you are weighing whether you would need representation to serve at all, do you need a probate lawyer? is the decision framework.

Apply for appointment if the process requires it

Petition through the court that serves the county, and expect institutions to ask for a court-issued document — often a certified copy issued within a recent window — rather than a photocopy of the will. Order more certified copies than you think you need; each institution may keep one.

Set up the estate's federal tax workstreams once you have authority

The IRS instructs the personal representative to apply for an employer identification number (EIN) for the estate early, because the number is needed on returns and must be given to payers of interest and dividends. An estate income tax return on Form 1041 is required if the estate's assets generate more than $600 of annual gross income, so not every estate files every return. Form 56 tells the IRS a fiduciary relationship exists, and the IRS asks that it be filed once the EIN and other necessary information are available. The IRS information for executors page indexes these federal steps. Federal tax points here were checked against IRS guidance on August 2, 2026; publications and form instructions are revised by tax year, so confirm the edition that applies to the year of death and to the estate's tax year before filing.

Open a separate estate account where the process and the institution require or allow it

Estate money never mixes with personal money. Mixing them is not a bookkeeping problem: if estate funds pass through a personal account, the burden of showing what belonged to whom falls on you, and a beneficiary or the court can hold you personally responsible for what you cannot document. Pay estate expenses from estate funds once you have authority; before that, keep receipts for anything you advance personally and reimburse yourself later from the estate rather than informally. Not every estate needs its own account, and the bank's requirements are its own policy, so ask what it accepts before you make the trip. Start four logs now — documents, expenses, decisions, communications — because reconstructing them later is the expensive version.

Confidence: the federal tax steps above apply everywhere and are sourced. Whether appointment is required, which forms apply, and what the bank will accept are state law, court practice, and institution policy — verify each separately.

Administration: collect, manage, verify, and account

This is the long middle, and it is written for a personal representative whose authority has been recognized. If you hold no role in the estate, the last row of Which route fits your situation is your starting point instead. Organize the work as workstreams rather than a list of accounts, and keep each one current in the tracker.

Assets, custody, and inventory

Collect and protect what belongs to the estate: keep insurance in force and updated for changed occupancy, obtain date-of-death values where the court or a return requires them, and tie every transfer, sale, repair, and expense to a receipt and a named asset. Reconcile your map against statements, incoming mail, prior returns, deeds, and what institutions confirm in writing. If you need the decedent's returns from the IRS, you must first show proof that you are authorized to receive them. Keep probate, trust, joint, and beneficiary-designated assets in separate columns; blending them is how the wrong person gets promised the wrong thing. What a court inventory must show, and which valuation date applies, are state and county rules. Decisions about a house the estate owns are their own analysis — what to do with an inherited house carries it.

Notices and claims

Required notices to heirs, beneficiaries, and creditors — who, how, and within what period — come from state statute and local court rule. Track the recipient, the legal basis, the method of service, the date sent, the response, and whether a claim was allowed, rejected, or disputed. A bill is not the same as an allowed claim, and payment order is set by state law, not by who contacts you first.

Debts and solvency

Verify who is actually liable before paying anything. As a general rule, family members are not personally responsible for a deceased person's debts simply because they are family — those debts are paid from the estate, and where the estate cannot pay them, most unsecured debt goes unpaid. Federal consumer guidance is clear that where you are the executor or administrator, debt collectors may contact you to discuss the deceased person's debts and may not say or hint that you must pay them with your own money. Survivor liability is a separate question of shared responsibility — a co-signed loan, a joint account, a community-property rule, or a state's rules about a spouse's obligations — and it is not created by being the executor. If the estate may be insolvent, stop and get advice before paying anyone.

Taxes, kept in separate rows

These are different filings with different rules, and collapsing them is a common source of error.

• The decedent's final individual return. File it the way you would if the person were alive, reporting income up to the date of death, and file any prior-year returns that were never filed. For a calendar-year taxpayer it is generally due April 15 of the year following the year of death.
• The estate's income tax return. Form 1041, required at the $600 annual gross-income threshold above, using the estate's EIN.
• Federal estate tax. A Form 706 filing applies only to large estates, measured against the federal basic exclusion amount for the year of death. The IRS states that estates of decedents who die during 2026 have a basic exclusion amount of $15,000,000, up from $13,990,000 for deaths in 2025 — reviewed August 2, 2026. The figure is statutory, has changed repeatedly, and is adjusted again in later years, so confirm the amount for the actual year of death rather than the current year.
• The portability election, if there is a surviving spouse. A separate decision from whether tax is owed, and one an estate can lose by doing nothing. It is in the deadline table below.
• State estate and inheritance taxes. Separate taxes, imposed by some states and not others, sometimes based on who inherits rather than what the estate is worth. Estate tax vs inheritance tax covers the distinctions.
• Basis and beneficiary reporting. Inherited property has its own basis rules, and beneficiaries may receive a Schedule K-1 for estate income passed through to them.
• Property, transfer, and local taxes. These keep running during administration and are easy to miss.

You are probably also a beneficiary, and that is a conflict to manage in the open

In most families the executor inherits too. That is normal and it is not disqualifying, but it means every decision where your interest and another beneficiary's interest diverge — what to sell, what to appraise, who receives a specific item, whether to take a fee, whether to buy estate property yourself — is a decision to document rather than simply make. Your duty runs to the beneficiaries and creditors as a group, not to your own preference. Where you would benefit from a decision, put the reasoning in the decision log, tell the other beneficiaries before you act, and obtain court approval or written consent where the process allows it. Buying estate property yourself is the case that most often needs court approval; ask before you offer.

Compensation, expenses, and communication

Track out-of-pocket expenses separately from any compensation. Whether a fee is allowed, how it is calculated, whether the will limits it, and whether the court must approve it are state-law questions, and many family executors waive it entirely. If you do take a fee, the IRS treats fees paid to a personal representative as includible in that person's gross income. Choose a communication cadence and hold it — monthly is plenty. Say what is done, what is waiting on a document, a court, or a tax authority, and which decisions need consent or court approval.

Some assets deserve a pause of their own: operating businesses, farms, intellectual property, firearms, environmental exposure, digital and crypto assets, foreign property, closely held interests, and real property in another state. Name the trigger in the tracker and route it to someone qualified.

An executor should be able to explain, with records, what came into the estate, what left it, why each payment or decision was authorized, and what remains for distribution. If any of those four is unclear, that is the next task.

Confidence: the federal tax and debt-collection points above are sourced and apply everywhere. Claim priority, notice requirements, inventory content, and compensation are state law — verify with the court that serves the decedent's county.

Closing: confirm, distribute, document, and discharge

Distribution is not the finish line. Closing is a controlled sequence, and the exact filings, approvals, waivers, and accounting requirements depend on the jurisdiction and the path the estate took. This section also assumes a recognized personal representative.

Reconcile, then prepare what the process requires

Bring the asset schedule, income, expenses, claims, taxes, and proposed distributions into one reconciled picture, and resolve unexplained differences first; an accounting that does not tie out invites objections and delay. Some estates need a reserve held back for a known but unfinished item. Do not assume that silence from a creditor clears a claim — whether and when a claim is barred is a matter of the state's statute and the court's record, not an inference. What the process then requires may be a formal accounting, a distribution schedule, receipts and releases, waivers, a petition, notices, or a simpler closing statement. Separate what the court requires from what is merely good recordkeeping, and label both so a successor could follow the file.

Distribute traceably, then finish the fiduciary relationship

Use methods that leave a record, and obtain signed receipts or equivalent proof; for property, retain the transfer documents and the valuation records. For retirement accounts, life insurance, and other assets going to a named beneficiary, do not route the transaction through the estate unless that is genuinely the path — moving a beneficiary-designated asset into the estate can create tax consequences that did not otherwise exist.

Close accounts and services last: outstanding checks, refunds, final utility bills, tax notices, and recurring charges all arrive after the account is shut. Where a discharge or termination step applies, complete it rather than simply stopping. Publication 559 describes the federal tools for winding up — Form 56 again, to notify the IRS that the fiduciary relationship has ended, and a request for prompt assessment or for discharge from personal liability for tax. Those requests have their own conditions and timing, so work from the current form instructions. Keep the records afterward; the retention period depends on the court, the tax authorities, and the assets.

Deadlines that actually have consequences

Most of what people call an executor deadline is sequencing. These six are real, and each one behaves differently when it passes.

Deadline	Layer	Where the period comes from	If it passes	Can it be cured?
Filing or lodging the original will	State — varies	The decedent's state statute; the court that serves the county. Sixteen states are set out below	Until the will is filed where the state requires it, the court generally cannot admit it or appoint anyone under it, so nothing needing authority can move. Some states also make the person holding the will answerable for the delay.	Usually, by filing it — but ask the clerk immediately rather than waiting
Creditor claim period	State — varies	State statute, plus the notice the court requires you to give	Claims presented after the period may be barred. Do not treat silence as a bar: whether a claim is barred is a matter of the statute and the court's record.	Not by you. The period runs on its own terms once it starts
Portability election — transferring a deceased spouse's unused federal exclusion	Federal	IRS. Form 706 is due within nine months of the date of death, and Form 4768 gives an automatic six-month extension of time to file. An estate with no filing requirement of its own may still elect	The unused exclusion is not transferred to the surviving spouse, which can matter years later at the survivor's death even though no tax is owed now	Often, for five years. An estate that was not required to file may elect under Rev. Proc. 2022-32 by filing a complete Form 706 on or before the fifth anniversary of the death, with the wording that procedure requires at the top of the return and no user fee. After that, only through a private letter ruling. Raise it with a tax professional early — the return takes time to prepare
Qualified disclaimer — refusing an inheritance	Federal	Internal Revenue Code § 2518(b). The written refusal must be received no later than nine months after the day the transfer creating the interest is made — for a transfer at death, the date of death — or the day the person turns 21, whichever is later	The refusal is not a qualified disclaimer for federal transfer-tax purposes, and the person disclaiming may be treated as having received the property and then given it away	No. Accepting the interest or any of its benefits also disqualifies it, so raise this with a tax professional before touching the asset
Decedent's final individual return	Federal	IRS. Generally April 15 of the year following the year of death for a calendar-year taxpayer	Late-filing and late-payment penalties plus interest	Yes. A six-month filing extension is available on Form 4868; it extends the time to file, not the time to pay, and the IRS offers payment options if the balance cannot be paid at once
Estate's income tax return (Form 1041)	Federal	IRS. The 15th day of the fourth month after the estate's tax year ends — April 15 for a calendar-year estate	Penalties accrue even where little or no tax is due	Yes. Form 7004 gives an automatic 5½-month extension of time to file. An estate may also elect a fiscal year, which changes the date

Four of those six are federally fixed and two are not. The IRS states that the same tax deadlines apply for final returns as for anyone else, that Form 4868 gives individuals six more months to file, and, in the instructions for Form 1041, that calendar-year estates file by April 15 and may use Form 7004 for an automatic 5½-month extension. The nine-month disclaimer window is set by section 2518(b) of the Internal Revenue Code. All federal rows reviewed August 2, 2026.

Where sources disagree, work from the form instructions. The IRS's own overview page for the estate income tax return describes an automatic 5-month extension, while the Form 1041 instructions state 5½ months for estates and trusts. The form instructions are the operative source, and this page follows them.

Will-filing duties in sixteen states

The will-filing row above varies more than people expect: a fixed day count in some states, "reasonable promptness" in others, a separate and longer clock for the named executor in a few, and in one state a rule that costs a beneficiary their inheritance. This duty usually falls on whoever physically holds the will, not on the person named as executor, and it runs whether or not anyone opens a case.

This table covers sixteen states. It does not cover the other thirty-five jurisdictions, and no row describes any state other than the one it names. For a state not listed, the duty comes from that state's probate or estates code and from the court serving the decedent's county; USAGov's court directory links every state's official court website, and the clerk of the probate, surrogate's, or superior court in that county can identify the provision that applies. All rows checked August 2, 2026.

State	Whose duty	Period and trigger	Consequence stated in the source	Status
Arizona	The custodian of the will	After the death, and on request of an interested person, deliver it with reasonable promptness to a person able to secure its probate or, if none is known, to an appropriate court — A.R.S. § 14-2516	Willful failure to deliver makes the person liable to any person aggrieved for damages; willful refusal after a court order is contempt	Verified Aug 2, 2026
California	The custodian of the will	Within 30 days after learning of the testator's death, deliver the will to the clerk of the superior court for the county where the estate may be administered, unless a probate petition is filed first — Prob. Code § 8200	The custodian is liable for all damages sustained by any person injured by the failure	Verified Aug 2, 2026
Florida	The custodian of the will	Within 10 days after receiving information that the testator is dead, deposit the will with the clerk of the court having venue — Fla. Stat. § 732.901	On petition, costs, damages, and a reasonable attorney's fee are adjudged against the custodian if the court finds no just or reasonable cause	Verified Aug 2, 2026
Georgia	Anyone having possession of the will	With reasonable promptness, file it with the probate court of the county having jurisdiction — O.C.G.A. § 53-5-5, published through the Georgia General Assembly's official code portal	The probate court may attach for contempt, and may fine and imprison a person withholding a will until the will is delivered	Verified with limitation, Aug 2, 2026 — Georgia publishes its official code through a viewer that does not support a direct section link; confirm the current text at the portal or with the county probate court
Illinois	Anyone who has the will in their possession	Immediately upon the testator's death, file it with the clerk of the court of the proper county — 755 ILCS 5/6-1	The court may issue an attachment compelling production. Wilfully altering or destroying a will, or secreting it for 30 days after the death is known, is sentenced as a Class 3 felony theft	Verified Aug 2, 2026
Massachusetts	Anyone having custody of the will	Within 30 days after notice of the death, deliver it to a person able to secure its probate, or if none is known, to an appropriate court — G.L. c. 190B, § 2-516	Willful failure to deliver makes the person liable to anyone aggrieved for damages; willful refusal after a court order is contempt	Verified Aug 2, 2026
Michigan	The custodian, or anyone with possession or care of the will	With reasonable promptness after the death, forward it to the court with jurisdiction, in person or by registered mail — MCL 700.2516	Neglect without reasonable cause makes the person liable for the damages sustained; willful refusal after a court order is contempt	Verified Aug 2, 2026
Minnesota	Anyone having custody of the will	After the death, and on request of an interested person, deliver it with reasonable promptness to an appropriate court — Minn. Stat. § 524.2-516	Willful failure to deliver makes the person liable to any person aggrieved for damages	Verified Aug 2, 2026
Missouri	The person having custody of the will — and a bank or other depository holding it in a safe deposit box	After the death, deliver the will to the probate division of the circuit court with jurisdiction of the estate, or to the probate division of the county where the will is found, which keeps a copy and forwards the original by certified mail — no day count is stated — RSMo § 473.043	If the court is satisfactorily informed that a person has the will and refuses to produce it, the court may summon that person and compel production by attachment and commitment	Verified Aug 2, 2026
Nevada	Anyone in possession — and separately, the person named as personal representative	The possessor has 30 days after knowledge of the death to deliver the will to the clerk of the district court or to the named personal representative; the named personal representative has 30 days after the death, or 30 days after learning of being named, to present it to the clerk — NRS 136.050	Neglecting either duty without reasonable cause makes the person liable to every person interested in the will for the damages they sustain	Verified Aug 2, 2026
New York	Not established on this page	No fixed statutory day count was confirmed from an official New York court or legislative source on the review date; New York's published guidance describes the probate petition rather than a custodian deadline	Not established on this page	Blocked as of Aug 2, 2026 — ask the Surrogate's Court in the decedent's county what filing duty applies and when
North Carolina	The named executor holds a 60-day window; any custodian can be summoned	If no executor applies to have the will proved within 60 days after the death, a devisee or other interested person may apply on 10 days' notice; the clerk may shorten the 60 days for good cause — G.S. 28A-2A-2	The named executor loses the exclusive window. Separately, a person summoned who refuses to produce a will is jailed without bail until it is produced or accounted for (G.S. 28A-2A-4)	Verified Aug 2, 2026
Ohio	Anyone with custody or control — and, separately, any beneficiary able to control the will	The custodian must produce the will for probate. A beneficiary who knows of the will, can control it, and without reasonable cause fails to have it offered within one year of death faces the next column — R.C. 2107.10	A custodian who withholds a will without reasonable cause may be jailed until it is produced and is liable to aggrieved parties for damages (R.C. 2107.09). A beneficiary who lets the year lapse takes nothing: the property passes as if they had died first	Verified Aug 2, 2026
Pennsylvania	Anyone alleged to have possession or control of a will	No fixed period appears in the chapter reviewed. At a party's request the register issues a citation requiring the holder to show cause why the will should not be deposited — 20 Pa.C.S. Ch. 31	The citation is the compulsion mechanism; no separate damages provision was confirmed in the chapter reviewed	Verified with limitation, Aug 2, 2026 — the operative section could not be isolated from the chapter text; confirm with the Register of Wills
Texas	The person who has custody of the will	On receiving notice of the death, deliver the will to the clerk of the court with jurisdiction of the estate — no day count is stated — Estates Code § 252.201	Not stated in § 252.201. The same subchapter carries separate provisions on personal service, arrest, and damages (§§ 252.202–252.204) that were not reviewed line by line	Verified with limitation, Aug 2, 2026
Washington	The custodian — and separately, the named executor	The custodian has 30 days after receiving knowledge of the death to deliver the will to the court with jurisdiction or to the person named as executor; a named executor holding the will has 40 days after receiving knowledge of the death to deliver it to the court — RCW 11.20.010	Anyone who wilfully violates the section is liable to any party aggrieved for the damages sustained	Verified Aug 2, 2026

Illinois adds a second duty if you are the named executor: under 755 ILCS 5/6-3 you have 30 days after learning you are named to either start a proceeding to admit the will or declare a refusal to act, or the court may deny you the right to serve. Dates belong in a log tied to an official source and a triggering event, not to a national countdown. If you cannot name the statute, rule, or notice a date comes from, treat it as unverified until you can.

Stop signs: when to pause and get qualified help

Pausing is a legitimate choice, not an admission that you cannot manage. Often the right help is small: one limited-scope legal question, one tax consultation, the court's self-help center, or a specialist for a single asset. That is a different decision from retaining full representation, and it is worth making deliberately.

Stop and get review when any of these is true

• The estate may not be able to pay everything it owes, federal or state tax priority is uncertain, or someone is pressing for an early distribution.
• There is a contested or missing will, disputed heirship, serious family conflict, a threat of litigation, suspicion of undue influence, or questionable transfers made before death — and where you suspect an older or vulnerable adult was financially exploited, raise it with an attorney and, where someone may still be at risk, with adult protective services or law enforcement.
• The original will cannot be found. Search where the person kept documents, ask the attorney who drafted it and the bank holding any safe deposit box, and do not assume a photocopy is enough: whether a copy can be admitted, and what proof the court requires, is a state-law question.
• There is a surviving spouse. Many states give a spouse a statutory claim against the estate regardless of what the will says, and the window to elect it is short and state-set. No verified period could be sourced for this page, so it is a question for counsel in the decedent's state, early. Ask a tax professional separately about the portability election, which is a filing decision even when no estate tax is owed.
• The decedent owned property in more than one state or country, a business, a farm, mineral rights, regulated items, or significant digital or crypto assets.
• A beneficiary is a minor, an incapacitated person, a trust, another estate, a charity, or a nonresident alien — or is considering refusing an inheritance, which is the nine-month decision in the deadline table.
• Co-executors disagree, you have a conflict of interest, someone wants to buy estate property, or assets appear to be missing.
• Tax returns were never filed, income continues after death, there are substantial gain or loss questions, or retirement-account rules affect timing.
• The person received Medicaid long-term care benefits. Some states pursue recovery against the estate rather than against the family personally, the rules are state-specific, and this is an elder law attorney's question.
• The court or an institution rejects your documents, a date may have passed, or you are considering resigning.

Mail and calls you did not ask for

Probate filings are public records in most places, and an industry works from them. Within weeks of an appointment, executors commonly receive letters and calls offering cash advances against an inheritance, offers to buy estate property quickly, invitations to estate or trust seminars, and document-preparation services that are not law firms. None of these is a court communication, and none of them is time-sensitive because it says so. If an offer arrives unsolicited and asks you to sign, pay, or decide quickly, that is a reason to slow down rather than hurry. Check anything claiming to be from the court against the court's own contact path, and check whether anyone offering legal work is licensed in the decedent's state.

Use the tracker without creating a sensitive-data risk

The tracker is the most useful thing on this page, and it is also where people accidentally build a document that should never exist. Keep it functional and keep it boring: masked account labels rather than full numbers, originals stored securely somewhere other than the working file. Do not record Social Security numbers, full bank or policy numbers, passwords, or medical details. Every due date needs a source, a jurisdiction, a triggering event, and the date you last checked it.

Section	Fields
Control sheet	Domicile; county and court; date of death; where the will and trust papers are; appointment status; professional contacts; next review date
Authority documents	Document type; issuing court or authority; date issued; certified copies on hand; any limits stated; expiration or termination; institutions it has been given to
Asset and path inventory	Masked label; title and owner; beneficiary designation; location; value and valuation basis and date; debt or lien; probate, nonprobate, or uncertain; custodian; status
Claims and notices	Recipient or claimant; legal basis; source; method of service; date sent and received; response; allowed, rejected, or disputed; proof retained
Tax and deadline log	Tax, form, or task; jurisdiction; tax year or date-of-death regime; triggering event; due date; extension; source; preparer; proof of filing and payment
Income and expense ledger	Date; payer or payee; purpose; asset or workstream; amount; what authorized it; receipt; reimbursement or compensation flag
Decision and communication log	Issue; who was involved; facts; options; advice received; decision; the authority relied on; date; follow-up
Distribution and closing	Recipient; asset or amount; authority; approval or waiver; transfer date; receipt; reserve held; final status

Words the court and the institutions will use

Term	What it means here
Probate	The court process that proves a will, appoints someone to act, and supervises the transfer of the estate the court controls. Some estates never need it.
Letters testamentary, letters of administration	The court-issued document proving you were appointed — under a will, or where there is none. Names vary by state.
Intestate	Dying without a valid will. The state's intestacy statute then sets who inherits, in what shares.
Small estate affidavit	A sworn form that, where the state offers the procedure, lets an eligible person collect and distribute a limited estate without a full appointment. The amount, the measure, who may use it, and whether real property is excluded are all state law.
Creditor claim period	The window set by state law during which claims must be presented. Its length, its starting event, and what happens to a late claim are all state law.
Independent, unsupervised, or supervised administration	Names for how closely the court watches. The first two let an appointed representative act on most matters without returning to court; supervised administration requires approval at more steps. Which is available is state law.
Inventory and accounting	The inventory lists what the estate holds and what it is worth; the accounting shows what came in, what went out, and what remains. Whether either is filed, and in what form, is state law and local practice.
Ancillary administration	A second proceeding in another state, usually because the decedent owned real property there. It runs on that state's rules and timetable.
Bond	Insurance the court may require before appointing you, protecting the estate against loss caused by the person administering it. Whether it is required, and whether a will can waive it, is state law.
Elective share	A surviving spouse's statutory right, in many states, to claim a share of the estate regardless of what the will says. Whether it exists, how it is measured, and how long the spouse has to elect are all state law.
Disclaimer	A written refusal to accept an inheritance, so the property passes as though you had never been named. For federal tax purposes it must meet the conditions in Internal Revenue Code § 2518, including the nine-month window above.
Portability	The transfer of a deceased spouse's unused federal estate tax exclusion to the survivor. It is elected on a federal estate tax return, and an estate that owes no tax can still lose it by not filing.
Surcharge	A court order making a personal representative personally repay the estate for a loss caused by a breach of duty. It is the mechanism behind most of the personal-liability warnings on this page.
Estate tax and inheritance tax	Two different taxes. An estate tax is charged on what the estate is worth and paid by the estate; an inheritance tax is charged on what a person receives and can vary with their relationship to the person who died. Some states have one, some the other, some neither. The federal government imposes only an estate tax.
Basis and step-up in basis	The figure used to calculate gain or loss when property is later sold. Inherited property has its own basis rules, which often reset the figure to a date-of-death value. See estate tax vs inheritance tax and raise it with a tax professional before any sale.

Choosing the right kind of help

Help is a category decision before it is a purchase. Match the kind of help to the situation, then verify the specific person or office against the same standards you would apply to anything else in the file.

• Best for an estate where you mainly need to know the procedure: the probate court's self-help center or the clerk's office in the decedent's county. It is free and it is the only source that can tell you which forms that court actually accepts. Clerks explain procedure; they do not give legal advice.
• Best for a modest, single-state estate you intend to handle yourself: a limited-scope consultation with an attorney licensed in the decedent's state who will put the fee basis in writing before you start.
• Best for a cost-constrained situation: legal aid, if you qualify by income, or the state bar's lawyer-referral service.
• Best for an estate with a business, out-of-state real property, a dispute, or possible insolvency: full representation by a probate attorney licensed in the decedent's state, engaged before you take action rather than after.
• Best for the tax workstreams: a CPA or enrolled agent experienced with decedents' final returns and estate income tax returns, who will confirm in writing which returns they are handling.
• Best when the facts are not settled yet: pause and get professional review before acting. This is a legitimate choice, and it is usually cheaper than the alternative.

Confirm before you engage or pay. Ask an attorney whether they are licensed in the decedent's state, whether they offer limited-scope work or only full representation, what the fee basis is and what it covers, and who actually does the work — an attorney, a paralegal, or a document-preparation service. Ask whether attorney fees in that state are set by statute, by the court, or by agreement, because some states publish a schedule and knowing which applies changes what there is to negotiate. Where property sits in a second state, ask who handles the filings there and what is billed separately; in a contested or insolvent estate, ask about their experience with that kind of case in that county. Of a tax professional, ask which returns they are taking on. Whoever you are considering, record who they are, where they are licensed, what specifically they will do, what it costs and on what basis, where you verified it, and the date. If an option cannot fill in those fields in writing, that is the answer.

Questions executors ask

What are the first steps as executor?

Protect property and records, locate the original will, identify the state and county that govern, find out whether you have been recognized to act or only named, and start a written record of every task, source, and date. The first 72 hours section above lists that work in order. Nothing on that list requires court authority, which is why it comes first.

Can I act as executor before probate?

It depends on the act and the state. Preserving property, securing a home, keeping insurance in force, and collecting mail are generally practical steps rather than legal transactions. Closing accounts, selling assets, and distributing anything are different, and most institutions will ask for a court-issued appointment document first. Check the four gates and the court's own guidance for the decedent's county before you rely on either answer.

How long does it take to settle an estate?

There is no national answer, and any single figure would mislead. The clock is set by the slowest dependency: the state's creditor-claim period, the court's calendar and how quickly a representative is appointed, inventory and appraisal, the sale of real property, tax filings and any clearance, and any dispute. An estate with a will, one state, and no disagreement often moves in a fraction of the time a contested one does. Ask the clerk's office in the decedent's county what that type of case involves locally.

What does it cost, and who pays?

Costs usually come from the estate, not from you personally, and they are separate things that get conflated: the court's filing fee, published in that court's own fee schedule; publication or notice costs; certified copies; a bond premium if required; appraisal fees; personal-representative compensation if taken; and attorney fees.

The fee basis matters more than the headline number, and it is set differently from state to state. Some states use a statutory percentage. California sets a personal representative's compensation for ordinary services at 4 percent of the first $100,000 of the estate accounted for, 3 percent of the next $100,000, 2 percent of the next $800,000, 1 percent of the next $9 million, and one-half of one percent of the next $15 million, with anything above $25 million set by the court. Florida presumes a commission of 3 percent of the first $1 million of the compensable estate, 2.5 percent above $1 million to $5 million, 2 percent above $5 million to $10 million, and 1.5 percent above that. Other states use "reasonable compensation" subject to court approval, or let the will set the terms. Both figures were reviewed August 2, 2026, and neither tells you anything about a third state. Ask professionals to quote the basis — flat, hourly, or percentage — and to separate fees from costs they advance.

Are debts forgiven when someone dies?

No — and the opposite overstatement is also wrong. As a general rule, family members are not personally responsible for a deceased person's debts simply because they are family. Valid debts are generally handled through the estate and paid from estate property under the state's rules on which claims come first, and where the estate cannot pay them, most unsecured debt goes unpaid. Whether a survivor owes anything personally is a separate question of shared responsibility: a co-signed loan, a joint account, a community-property rule, or a state's rules on spousal obligations. Being the executor does not make you personally liable, and a collector may not suggest otherwise.

Your next step

Open the control sheet today and fill in six lines: the decedent's state of domicile, the county and court that serve that address, the date of death, where the original will is, whether anyone has been appointed yet, and how each major asset is titled or designated. Then open the official judiciary or probate-court site for that state and enter only the forms, procedures, and dates you can see on that source, with the date you checked each one. Everything else on this page becomes easier once those six lines are filled in — and when something on the list turns out to be uncertain, that uncertainty is the reason to ask a licensed professional in the decedent's state, not a reason to guess.

Sources and last verified date

Last verified: August 2, 2026

Next review: August 2027, or sooner when a cited statute, form, or tax figure changes.

• Publication 559 (2025), Survivors, Executors, and Administrators — Internal Revenue Service — Personal-representative definition and core duties, EIN, Form 56 notice and termination, fees received by a personal representative, insolvent-estate priority and the personal-responsibility exception, and the point that a will or power of attorney is not evidence of appointment.
• Responsibilities of an estate administrator — Internal Revenue Service — Court-issued letters of testamentary as the authority document.
• File an estate tax income tax return — Internal Revenue Service — The $600 annual gross-income threshold for an estate income tax return, and the 5-month extension description that the Form 1041 instructions supersede.
• Information for executors — Internal Revenue Service — Current federal index of executor tax resources.
• File the final income tax returns of a deceased person — Internal Revenue Service — Final individual return and prior-year returns, balance due, and refund routing.
• Filing a final federal tax return for someone who has died — Internal Revenue Service — Confirmation that the same filing deadlines apply to a final return, court-appointment documentation, and payment options where a balance cannot be paid at once.
• About Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return — Internal Revenue Service — The six-month filing extension available for the decedent's final individual return.
• Instructions for Form 1041 and Schedules A, B, G, J, and K-1 — Internal Revenue Service — Estate income tax return due date, the fiscal-year option, and the automatic 5½-month extension on Form 7004.
• Instructions for Form 706, United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return — Internal Revenue Service — The nine-month filing deadline, the automatic six-month extension on Form 4768, and the requirement that a portability election be made on a timely filed return.
• Revenue Procedure 2022-32 — Internal Revenue Service — The simplified method allowing an estate with no filing requirement to elect portability through the fifth anniversary of the decedent's death.
• Frequently asked questions on estate taxes — Internal Revenue Service — The five-year portability window, the wording required at the top of the return, and the absence of a user fee.
• IRS releases tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026 — Internal Revenue Service — Federal basic exclusion amount for estates of decedents dying in 2026 and 2025.
• Request deceased person's information — Internal Revenue Service — Proof-of-authority requirements for obtaining a deceased person's tax records.
• 26 U.S.C. § 2518, Disclaimers — Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives — The nine-month window and the other conditions for a qualified disclaimer.
• Can a debt collector contact me about a deceased relative's debts? — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — Estate-versus-survivor liability boundary and limits on what a collector may say to an executor.
• Fiduciary of an Estate — New York Courts — Single-state illustration of court appointment of a fiduciary, bonding, and the collect-pay-distribute duty structure.
• Small Estate / Voluntary Administration — New York Courts — New York's small-estate threshold, its personal-property measure, and the real-property disqualifier.
• Small Estate Packet, Article 13 affidavit and instructions — New York Courts — The exclusions applied to New York's small-estate measure, including EPTL § 5-3.1 set-off property and joint or payable-on-death assets.
• A.R.S. § 14-2516, Custodian of will; duties; liability — Arizona State Legislature — Arizona's reasonable-promptness delivery duty, the damages exposure, and the contempt provision.
• California Probate Code § 8200 — California Legislative Information — California's 30-day will-delivery duty and the damages consequence.
• California Probate Code § 10800 — California Legislative Information — California's statutory percentage schedule for a personal representative's ordinary compensation.
• Florida Statutes § 732.901, Production of wills — The Florida Senate — Florida's 10-day will-deposit duty and the costs, damages, and attorney's fee consequence.
• Florida Statutes § 733.617, Compensation of personal representative — The Florida Senate — Florida's presumed commission percentages for a personal representative.
• Official Code of Georgia Annotated — Georgia General Assembly — Official access point for O.C.G.A. § 53-5-5, Georgia's reasonable-promptness filing duty and the contempt and confinement provision.
• 755 ILCS 5/6-1, Duty to file will — Illinois General Assembly — Illinois's immediate filing duty, the attachment remedy, and the felony provision for secreting a will.
• Massachusetts General Laws c. 190B, § 2-516, Duty of custodian of will — Massachusetts General Court — Massachusetts's 30-day delivery duty, the damages exposure, and the contempt provision.
• MCL 700.2516, Delivery of will or codicil by custodian — Michigan Legislature — Michigan's reasonable-promptness duty, the damages exposure, and the contempt provision.
• Minnesota Statutes § 524.2-516, Duty of custodian of will — Office of the Revisor of Statutes — Minnesota's reasonable-promptness delivery duty and the damages exposure.
• RSMo § 473.043, Will of decedent, where delivered — Missouri Revisor of Statutes — Missouri's delivery duty with no stated day count, the safe-deposit-box custodian rule, and compulsion by attachment and commitment.
• NRS Chapter 136, Probate of Wills and Petitions for Letters — Nevada Legislature — NRS 136.050, Nevada's separate 30-day duties for a person in possession and for the named personal representative, and the damages exposure.
• N.C.G.S. § 28A-2A-2, Executor failing, beneficiary may apply — North Carolina General Assembly — North Carolina's 60-day executor window and the clerk's power to shorten it.
• N.C.G.S. Chapter 28A, Article 2A, Probate of Will — North Carolina General Assembly — North Carolina's power to compel production of a will under § 28A-2A-4.
• Ohio Revised Code § 2107.10, Effect of withholding will — Ohio Laws — Ohio's one-year rule and the forfeiture consequence for a beneficiary who withholds a will.
• Ohio Revised Code § 2107.09, Duty to produce will — Ohio Laws — Ohio's confinement and damages consequences for a custodian who withholds a will.
• 20 Pa.C.S. Chapter 31 — Pennsylvania General Assembly — Pennsylvania's citation process for compelling deposit of a will.
• Texas Estates Code Chapter 252 — Texas Statutes — Texas's will-delivery duty on notice of death and the related custodian provisions.
• RCW 11.20.010, Duty of custodian of will — Washington State Legislature — Washington's 30-day custodian duty, the separate 40-day duty on a named executor, and the damages exposure.
• Federal, state, territory, county, and municipal courts — USAGov — Official route to each state's court website and identification of probate court as the court handling wills and estates.
• Dealing with the death of a loved one — USAGov — Official federal starting point for certified death certificates and agency reporting.
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — Free, confidential crisis support by call or text.