subject: Responsibilities Of An Executor - Part L [print this page] Anyone who assumes the responsibility of acting as the executor or administrator of your last will and testament should follow certain protocol. If you executor is unsure of what steps to take, he or she should find a good lawyer, estate planner, tax specialist or legal document preparer such as For the People to help them through the probate process. Here are some of the initial tasks that your executor will be asked to perform:
Family members and/or close friends of the decedent will need to locate and review the original last will and testament. If the original will was not in the decedent's possession, it will be necessary to contact the attorney who prepared the will to obtain the original document. There should be no fee to obtain the original will from the preparer. At For the People, whenever we prepare a last will and testament, the customer always takes the original document with them to put in a safe place along with their other important papers. It will be detailed in the will who the decedent nominated to act as executor.
If the decedent has passed away without a will, that person is identified as having died "intestate", and someone who was either related to or knew the decedent will have to be willing to act as administrator of their estate. In New York State, there is no executor in situations where the decedent died without a will.
It is the executor's or administrator's job to inventory all assets and appraise the market value of major assets. They then must determine whether probate is necessary and whether New York's "probate trigger" of $20,000 has been reached. If the decedent passed away as a New York State resident with over $20,000 in assets, the estate will not be eligible to be probated as a "small estate".
For the People's legal document preparers can assist with simple small and large estate probates. For the People prepares all of the necessary documents and will assist the executor or administrator with the procedural aspects of a probate filing. For the People can also assist after the probate is filed by preparing Executor's or Administrator's Deeds for the estate, as well.
