Estate & Trust Administration

Estate Administration

Regardless of whether you need to go through Probate or whether you simply need a Small Estate Affidavit, we can help.

If you are the named Executor in a Will, we can help you determine how best to administer the Estate (e.g. whether you need to go through Probate or whether you can proceed with a Small Estate Affidavit). Before we meet, you need to know (or at least have a sense of) the assets that will be subject to estate administration. This does not include payable-on-death accounts or accounts with named beneficiaries or assets owned in joint tenancy. Although having information regarding those assets is also important.

If you need to go through Probate, we can help you by preparing the various pleadings required to be filed with the Court and complying with the various statutory notice requirements (including a requirement that you publish notice in the local paper).

If you do not need to go through Probate, we can help you prepare and use a Small Estate Affidavit.

If your loved one has passed without leaving a Will, we can help you evaluate who should be the Administrator of the Estate and, from there, whether Probate or a Small Estate Affidavit is the proper mechanism for administering the estate.

Trust Administration

Whether you are tasked with administering a trust over an extended period of time or simply winding up the trust and making final distributions, we can help. We offer a variety of services, from guidance regarding decision-making as a trustee (fiduciary), to assistance with preparation of accountings.

We can also help if you are in the less common situation of needing to bring a trust issue before the Court. For example, the Court might be needed to construe or modify one or more terms of the trust.