Appointed as an Executor or Trustee? Here’s What You’re Personally Responsible For.
We help fiduciaries navigate probate, trust administration, taxes, and distributions — while avoiding personal liability.
- Missouri probate & trust administration
- Executor liability protection
- Court + non-probate asset settlement
We help families navigate estate settlement from start to finish — ensuring compliance with Missouri law while reducing stress and delays.
What is Estate Settlement?
Estate settlement (also called probate or estate administration) is the legal process of;
- Identifying assets
- Paying estate debts
- Filing Documents with the court (if required)
- Collecting assets
- Ensuring all taxes of the deceased are paid and the deceased’s tax returns and final estate tax return are filed.
- Preparing inventories for the beneficiaries and possibly the court (i.e. probate).
Even though probate may not be required, you still have fiduciary duties – legal responsibilities to the IRS, the State, the decedent’s creditors, and the beneficiaries.
What Should You Do Immediately After a Loved One Passes?
- Secure residence and valuables
- Protect any vehicles, including cars, boats, helicopters, and planes
- Meet with the funeral home and request multiple death certificates
- Locate estate planning documents
- Forward mail (https://www.usps.com/manage/mail-for-deceased.htm)
- Identify automatic payments
- Perform a search with the life insurance database
- Search unclaimed property databases for any state your decedent lived or worked in (Missouri | Illinois)
- Obtain a copy of the will or trust (if you don’t already have one)
- If the will or trust is in a safe deposit box, you need to contact an attorney to ask the courts to allow you to open the safe deposit box
- Send out notices to beneficiaries if you are a trustee
- Try and make a determination of assets left in the deceased’s name, if they are under $40,000, you might be able to use a small estate affidavit iin Missouri.
Understand the process
The Process of Settling a Loved One’s Estate
Secure the estate, this means taking possession of physical assets including real estate and cars, boats, or other assets. For other steps about what you need to do, read this article.
Create an EIN for the Estate / Trust account(s) as need be, and open up an account for either (or both) estate and trust account(s) to start collecting and liquidating assets into.
Determine what was left in the descendant’s name, and reach out and determine what you need to do to collect the decedent’s assets.
IIf probate is required to collect assets left in the decedent’s name only, then figure out if you can use a small estate affidavit (total assets under $40,000), or if you need to open probate (total assets over $40,000).
Publish required notices. If probate is required, you will need to open probate (both small estate and full probate) and publish a notice to creditors. If you have a trust, you will need to send letters (notice) to beneficiaries to start the three month trust challenge period. For clarification, here is an article about probate and trust timelines in Missouri.
Create an initial inventory – you can download our free asset spreadsheet here.
You will need to file the deceased’s final tax return, but you will also be required to file tax returns for both the estate’s tax return, but also the trust’s tax returns. You will want to get a letter of “no tax due” from the IRS prior to making a final distribution. Remember, if the IRS comes back and says there are taxes owed, you will be responsible for it, unless you can get the beneficiaries to give you money you gave them to pay it.
You will need to file the deceased’s final tax return, but you will also be requireOnce you have an understanding of the taxes, an understanding of the estate / trust tax obligations and debts of the estate (and they are paid), you can set up a substantial initial distribution. You will still need to withhold money for taxes, CPA expenses and legal fees.
After these amounts are withheld, you can pay all of the remaining debts. Once you receive a letter from the IRS, and confirmation that all debts of the estate / trust are paid, you can make a final distribution to the beneficiaries of any remaining assets. You will also send a final statement of account to each beneficiary with this distribution.
You Have Been Chosen, You Are Still A Fiduciary.
Executors and trustees can be sued personally.
As an executor or trustee, you have obligations to the beneficiaries, the state and the government. If you fail to protect these people, you can be sued personally.
- Making a distribution before the trust challenge period is done, making a distribution before you receive a clearance letter from the IRS, or making a distribution before the trust challenge period runs.
- Not providing a proper accounting of trust or estate assets to beneficiaries
- Failing to pay creditor claims and making a distribution to beneficiaries before creditor claim periods run.
You Are Now A Fiduciary.
When you are appointed as a Personal Representative (Executor) or Trustee, you are not just handling paperwork — you are serving in a legal role known as a fiduciary.
A fiduciary is someone who is legally obligated to act in the best interests of another person or group of people — in this case, the estate beneficiaries.
Fiduciaries are held to the highest standard of care under the law.
This means your actions must always prioritize the interests of the estate and its beneficiaries above your own and avoid;
- Improper distributions
- Failure to pay valid creditors
- You are responsible with the IRS for filing the decedent’s final personal return, and the final estate tax return.
- Asset mismanagement
- Conflicts of interest
- Self dealing – this includes making a distribution to yourself if you have not satisfied all beneficiary claims, creditor claims, or tax obligations of the estate.
Beneficiaries can bring legal action if they believe duties were breached.
How Long Will This Take?
This depends on how quickly you move as the executor or trustee, and it depends on if you have an estate that has assets that go through formal probate.
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