A will allows people to state who will receive their property when they pass away. It gives people the flexibility to choose their heirs, give property to charities and other options.
Having a will states people’s intentions for their property, but others are the ones responsible for actually distributing the property to the beneficiaries according to the will. The people responsible for doing this are called the personal representative. Generally, the desired personal representative will also be named in the will. However, the personal representative cannot distribute the property until they gather all of the property and determine its value.
Personal representatives must value assets
To accomplish this one of the first duties of the personal representative is to inventory the deceased’s property. They must determine all of the property that the deceased owned when they passed away. Once they find all the property, they must determine the value of the property. This could involve the use of various experts who conduct appraisals of the various property. Personal representatives have an ongoing duty throughout probate to add property to the inventory that they learn of during the process as well.
Personal representatives of wills have an important job to ensure that the estate is distributed correctly during probate. Their job starts with providing an inventory of the deceased’s property, but there are many other steps along the way. They are also responsible for filing the appropriate documents with the court and ultimately must close the estate as well. This can be a complicated process and consulting with experienced attorneys could be beneficial.
