Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Kentucky

Re: he did have a will

The short answer is no, you do not need a lawyer. The starting point is to go to the probate clerk and they will be able to get you started on the right direction. If the estate is large, you may want to consider an attorney.

Re: he did have a will

No, you do not need a lawyer to carry out the duties of an executor of a will. Your primary tasks will be first to open up an estate at the probate court for the decedent(your step father), and collect up all of the assets which formely belonged to the decedent but which now belong to his estate. These assets could consist of personal property such as cars, bank accounts or furniture, or real property in the form of land and/or buildings. You then will publish a notice in a local newspaper for a certain period of time to make creditors aware of the probate of the decedent's estate and the time frame in which they have to submit bills or invoices for goods and/or services for which the decedent may have owed them at the time of his death. You then must file an inventory with the probate court by the required deadline listing all of the assets of the estate.

When all of the bills have been paid, including federal and state income taxes which may be owed on returns which may need to be filed, you should by then be ready to begin distributing the assets of the estate to the beneficiaries named in the will. Some money should be held back to take care of unanticipated claims, bills, or expenses and costs associated with the administration of the estate which may not turn up or appear until later.

Finally, after about 14 months, you should be about ready to prepare and issue your final report to the local commissioner of accounts who is associated with the probate court which has jurisdiction over the matter.

Your final report to this commissioner should mainly reflect an itemization of the assets which were in the estate, an itemized accounting as to how creditors' claims were paid as well as other costs and expenses incurred in the administration of the estate and an itemized accounting of all distributions made to each of the named beneficiaries in your step father's will.

When all of the foregoing has been correctly and accurately carried out, you should then be ready to close out the estate. If you have questions along the way, the clerk at your local probate court may be of some assistance or you may need to arrange for a consultation with a local attorney who is appropriately knowledgeable in Virginia probate law.