Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Virginia

Re: executor

Check first with your co-executor to determine whether he or she knows what to do. If not, you can surely pick up some materials at your local library or online which explain the protocols to be followed in probating an estate.

Your tasks will consist of opening an estate by going to the probate clerk's office of the circuit court with a copy of the will and applying for letters of administration which will act as certification as to your status as executors of the will and entitlement to probate the estate.

You will then need to publish a notice to creditors for the required period in a local newspaper and begin to identify and collect up all of the assets belonging to the estate, both real and personal property.

If and when legitimate creditor claims/bills are presented to the estate for payment, you can then begin paying these claims out of estate assets.

You will be required to compile an inventory of estate assets and file this inventory with the probate court by the required deadline.

After creditor claims have been satisfied, you can then begin distributing whatever assets remain in the estate to the beneficiaries named in the will. (If some assets need to be sold in order to administer claims and/or pay beneficiaries such as a house and/or land, or vehicles, it will be up to you as executors to conduct such sales and account for the proceeds).

It will be advisable for you to hold in reserve some estate assets to pay

creditor claims which may come towards the end of the probate process.

State and federal tax returns may also need to be prepared and filed in behalf of the decedent as well as the estate.

Finally, after all of the above-described business has been transacted, some 14-16 months after the estate was opened, your final report of an accounting will be due to your local commissioner of accounts which, if approved, should then be followed by a closing of the state.

If, nevertheless, you should become stymied during any part of the probate process or are unsure as to how to proceed next, you may wish to arrange for a consultation with a local attorney who understands probate matters and how they are to be dealt with in the particular jurisdiction involved.