Executor Checklist Template

Before probate opens

Your first job is to find the will, the most recent signed original if you can. Look in the home files, with the attorney who drafted it, or in a safe deposit box, though a box in the deceased's name alone may take extra steps to open. Read it before anything is distributed or discarded, because it may name you formally and may contain wishes that change your plans.

Until the court gives you formal authority, your role is mostly protective. Secure the house and vehicles, keep insurance in force, and do not let anyone, however well meaning, start carrying things away. Order certified death certificates, since nearly every institution will ask for one. Then contact the probate court in the county where your person lived, or an attorney, to learn how your state opens an estate.

First steps

• Locate the original will and any codicils
• Secure the home, vehicles, mail, and anything valuable or portable
• Keep homeowner and auto insurance active on estate property
• Order certified death certificates through the funeral home or vital records
• Contact the probate court clerk or an attorney about opening the estate
• Start a single folder or box where every estate paper will live

The middle months

Once the court has appointed you, the steady work begins. Build an inventory of what the estate owns and owes. Bank statements, the mail, and tax returns will surface most of it. Open a bank account in the estate's name, move estate money into it, and pay estate expenses only from that account. Never mix estate money with your own, even briefly, even for convenience.

State law directs how and when creditors must be notified, often including a published notice, and sets how long they have to make claims. The court clerk's office or an attorney can tell you exactly what your state requires. Through all of it, keep every receipt and note every decision. A simple ledger of money in, money out, and why, is the thing that makes the end of this job easy instead of hard.

Ongoing duties

• Inventory assets and debts as your state requires
• Open an estate bank account and run all estate money through it
• Notify creditors in the manner state law directs
• Notify Social Security, insurers, banks, and agencies of the death
• File the final income tax return and any estate returns that apply
• Keep every receipt and a running ledger of what you did and why

Closing the estate

When debts, taxes, and valid claims are handled, you distribute what remains according to the will. Get a signed receipt from each person who receives something. Then prepare the final accounting, which is the story your ledger has been writing all along, showing what came in, what went out, and what each beneficiary received.

Depending on your state, the accounting goes to the court, to the beneficiaries, or both, and the court then releases you from the role. Do not distribute everything early just to make people happy. An executor who pays heirs before debts can end up personally responsible, and the timeline that protects you is the one state law sets.

Final steps

• Distribute assets as the will directs and collect signed receipts
• Prepare the final accounting from your ledger
• File whatever your state requires to close the estate
• Keep the records for several years after closing, in case questions come later

The document tracker

Print this list and check items off as you find them. You will not need every item, and some will not exist. The point is to look once, thoroughly, instead of hunting the same drawers for a year.

Documents to gather

• Original will and any codicils or trust documents
• Certified death certificates
• Court papers appointing you, once issued
• Bank, brokerage, and retirement account statements
• Life insurance policies
• Deeds, mortgage papers, and property tax records
• Vehicle titles and registrations
• Recent income tax returns
• Marriage certificate, and divorce decree if any
• Military discharge papers if they served
• Outstanding bills, loan statements, and credit card statements
• Safe deposit box keys and any list of digital accounts

A plain word about the law

Probate is governed by the law of the state where your person lived, and the details, from deadlines to which forms exist at all, vary widely. This page cannot tell you those specifics, and it should not try. The probate court clerk's office can tell you what filings your county expects, and a probate attorney can tell you what the law requires of you personally. For a modest estate, sometimes one paid hour of an attorney's time at the start is all you need. Neither this page nor any checklist is legal advice.