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Executor (Personal Representative)

The person a court authorizes to wind up an estate - a job with real duties, real personal exposure, and a right to be paid.

Informational only - this is not legal advice. These definitions explain general legal vocabulary in plain English. They are not advice about your situation, reading them creates no attorney-client relationship, and the law differs from state to state and changes over time. For advice you can rely on, speak to a lawyer licensed in your state.

Looking for a lawyer rather than a definition? Skip to the state-by-state list of Probate law firms.

What it means

The executor - called the personal representative or administrator in many states, and administrator specifically where there is no will - is the person appointed by a probate court to gather the deceased person's assets, deal with debts and taxes, and distribute what remains. Being named in a will is a nomination, not an appointment: the authority comes from the court, and the document that proves it is usually called letters testamentary or letters of administration. Until those are issued, banks, brokerages and land registries will generally not deal with anyone, which is why the first weeks feel like a wall.

The work is roughly sequential. Secure the property and obtain certified copies of the death certificate; file the will and open the estate; obtain letters; notify beneficiaries and known creditors and publish notice where required; inventory and value the assets; open an estate account and keep estate money strictly separate; pay valid debts, taxes and administration expenses in the priority the state sets; file final personal and any estate income tax returns; account to the beneficiaries or the court; and distribute. Where a house or a business is involved the middle of that list can take a long time, and the executor is responsible for insuring, maintaining and sometimes selling it in the meantime.

The exposure is the part nobody explains before the job is accepted. An executor is a fiduciary, which means the duties of loyalty, impartiality between beneficiaries, prudence and accounting are legal obligations rather than good manners. Distributing to beneficiaries before creditors and taxes are resolved can leave the executor personally liable for the shortfall, and the federal claim against a representative who pays other debts before the government is statutory. Self-dealing - buying estate property, hiring one's own company - is restricted or requires approval. Poor record-keeping is the ordinary route into a dispute, because an executor who cannot account is presumed to be in the wrong.

Two counterweights are also true and are underused. An executor is entitled to reasonable compensation under state law and to reimbursement of proper expenses, including legal and accounting fees paid from the estate; doing the job unpaid is a choice, not a requirement. And an executor may decline the appointment or resign with court approval - which is the right answer where there is a family conflict, a business the person cannot run, or simply no time. The alternate named in the will, or a person the court appoints, then serves instead.

Where this comes from

Appointment, powers, duties, the order in which debts are paid, notice to creditors, bond requirements, compensation and removal of a personal representative are all set by state probate statute and by local court rule; the Uniform Probate Code is the basis for these provisions in roughly half the states and the others differ, sometimes considerably. Fiduciary duties are additionally shaped by state case law. Personal liability of a representative who distributes an estate before satisfying a federal claim arises under 31 U.S.C. § 3713(b). The obligation to file the decedent's final income tax return and any estate returns arises under 26 U.S.C. §§ 6012 and 6018. Every period for presenting a claim, for publishing or mailing notice, for filing an inventory and for closing an estate is fixed by state statute or court rule, and none is stated here.

When people hire a lawyer for this

Ask three questions before accepting: what is actually in the estate, is it solvent, and is the family in agreement. An estate with a house, a business, property in another state, unclear debts, a disinherited relative or beneficiaries who are not speaking is a lawyer-assisted administration, and the fees are ordinarily payable from the estate rather than by the executor personally - so declining help to "save money" usually saves the executor nothing and exposes them to a great deal. Many states offer a simplified or summary procedure for small estates that avoids most of the above; ask whether the estate qualifies before opening a full administration. If you are already serving and it has gone wrong - money moved before you were appointed, an asset you cannot value, a beneficiary threatening to sue - get advice promptly rather than at the accounting stage, because the remedies available narrow as the administration proceeds.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono program or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

Find Probate law firms in your state

Choose your state to see Probate law firms in the city where we list the most; your city may be under “other cities”, A to Z. A state marked “Estate Planning” has no Probate listing yet and opens the broader page.

Alabama (Birmingham)
+1 other city
- Montgomery
Alaska (Anchorage)
Arizona (Chandler)
+6 other cities
Arkansas (Little Rock)
California (Long Beach)
+19 other cities
- Anaheim
- Chula Vista
- Fontana
- Fremont
- Irvine
- Los Angeles
- Modesto
- Oakland
- Riverside
- Sacramento
- San Francisco
- Stockton
- and 7 more with fewer listed firms
Colorado (Denver)
+2 other cities
- Aurora
- Colorado Springs
Connecticut (Bridgeport)
Delaware (Wilmington)
District of Columbia (Washington)
Florida (Jacksonville)
+5 other cities
Georgia (Atlanta)
Hawaii (Honolulu)
Idaho (Boise, Estate Planning)
Illinois (Chicago)
Indiana (Fort Wayne)
+1 other city
- Indianapolis
Iowa (Des Moines)
Kansas (Kansas City)
+1 other city
- Wichita
Kentucky (Lexington)
+1 other city
- Louisville
Louisiana (Baton Rouge)
+2 other cities
- New Orleans
- Shreveport
Maine (Portland)
Maryland (Baltimore)
Massachusetts (Boston)
Michigan (Detroit)
Minnesota (Minneapolis)
+1 other city
- Saint Paul
Mississippi (Jackson)
Missouri (Kansas City)
+1 other city
- St. Louis
Montana (Billings)
Nebraska (Lincoln)
+1 other city
- Omaha
Nevada (Henderson)
+3 other cities
New Hampshire (Manchester)
New Jersey (Newark)
+1 other city
- Jersey City
New Mexico (Albuquerque)
New York (Buffalo)
+2 other cities
- New York City
- Rochester
North Carolina (Charlotte)
+5 other cities
North Dakota (Fargo)
Ohio (Cincinnati)
+3 other cities
Oklahoma (Oklahoma City)
+1 other city
- Tulsa
Oregon (Portland)
Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)
+1 other city
- Pittsburgh
Rhode Island (Providence)
South Carolina (Columbia)
South Dakota (Sioux Falls)
Tennessee (Memphis)
+1 other city
- Nashville
Texas (Corpus Christi)
+12 other cities
Utah (Salt Lake City)
Vermont (Burlington)
Virginia (Chesapeake)
+3 other cities
Washington (Seattle)
+2 other cities
- Spokane
- Tacoma
West Virginia (Charleston)
Wisconsin (Madison)
+1 other city
- Milwaukee
Wyoming (Cheyenne)

Related terms

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Part of the LawyerLand plain-English legal glossary. Definitions are written from primary sources - statutes and court rules - and each entry states the authority it rests on, or says plainly when the doctrine is state law with no national rule.

If you cannot afford a lawyer, civil legal aid programs provide free help with many of these problems: civil legal aid programs by state.

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