---
name: estate_executor_settlement_workflow
description: "Serving as an estate executor or personal representative without missing the steps courts and banks expect: first week actions in order, an asset and debt inventory that keeps probate and non probate property separate, death certificate and notification tracking, creditor claim windows watched by date, an estate ledger that records every dollar in and out, and the final accounting and distribution receipts that close the estate. Use when someone is named executor, has just been appointed personal representative or administrator, is opening probate, is tracking creditor claims or an estate bank account, or is preparing a final accounting and closing an estate."
---

# Estate Executor Settlement Workflow

## Purpose

Settle one estate in phases, with a dated record at each phase, so the court, the bank, the tax authority, and the beneficiaries all read the same story. Estates go wrong in repeat places. A person named in a will starts moving money before the court appoints them. A retirement account gets counted as estate property when a named beneficiary controls it. A beneficiary gets paid before the creditor window closes, and the executor is left holding the claim. A final accounting is written from memory because no ledger was kept.

This skill runs the whole job: first week, appointment, inventory, notifications, claim window, estate account and ledger, debts and taxes in priority order, sale of assets, distribution against receipts, final accounting, closing. It is a workflow for the United States. Federal tax and Social Security rules are national. Probate procedure, deadlines, priority order, and small estate routes are state law, and the skill treats them that way throughout: build the state profile first, then run the case on that profile.

This is an administration workflow, not legal advice. A contested will, a disputed claim, an insolvent estate, a business in the estate, or a beneficiary fight goes to a probate attorney in the state where the estate is open. The executor still owns the records either way, and this workflow is how those records stay clean.

## Workflow

### 1. Build the state profile before touching money

Do this once, from the state probate code and the court where the estate will open. Write it at the top of the case file.

- Court and filing: the probate court for the county where the decedent lived, the petition or application forms, filing fee, and whether a bond is required and in what amount.
- Inventory deadline: the date the inventory is due, counted from appointment, and the form the court wants.
- Creditor notice: how notice is published (newspaper, court portal, or both), how many times, the deadline to mail notice to known creditors, and how the claim period is counted. Claim periods differ by state. One state counts about three months from first publication, another counts seven months from appointment. Print the rule for this state, with the statute or court source, and use only that rule.
- Claim bar date: computed from the notice facts for this estate, written as a calendar date, not a formula.
- Priority order: the state list for paying claims when money runs short, copied from the statute.
- Small estate route: the state threshold and affidavit or summary procedure, if any, and what it excludes. Thresholds change, so date the entry.
- Closing route: formal closing with a hearing, informal closing, or a sworn statement route, and what accountings the court requires along the way.

A profile borrowed from another state is a defect. If a fact in the profile has no source, treat it as unknown and look it up before acting on it.

### 2. First week, in order

Do these before any account is closed, sold, or promised to anyone.

1. Secure the property. Change or hold locks where needed, keep insurance in force, forward mail to the executor, and keep vehicles and vacant property maintained. Photograph rooms and valuables before anything is moved.
2. Find the will and any codicils, trust documents, and beneficiary paperwork. Search the home, the decedent papers, the attorney who drafted the plan, and any registry the state runs. The original will matters. Keep it unmarked, unstapled, and uncopied as the file copy.
3. Order certified death certificates through the funeral home or the vital records office, and start the certificate log in section 4 the same day. Banks, insurers, custodians, and agencies each ask for one, and reordering mid case costs weeks.
4. Give the funeral home the decedent Social Security number so it can report the death to the Social Security Administration. Funeral homes generally report the death. If no funeral home is involved, or the report did not happen, call SSA at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) with the name, Social Security number, date of birth, and date of death. Confirm the report is on file rather than assuming it.
5. Protect against post death payments and identity misuse. Tell the bank holding any account that received Social Security direct deposits that the holder has died. Social Security pays no benefit for the month of death, and a payment that arrives for that month or later must go back, so do not spend deposits that land after death until SSA and the bank sort them.
6. Notify the inner circle with facts only: date of death, funeral plans, and who the executor expects to be. Say nothing about who gets what. No distribution talk happens before the inventory and the claim window.
7. Start the case file and the ledger on day one, even if the first entries are small. Every later step writes into them.
8. Book a probate attorney consult for the appointment step, and a tax professional consult if the decedent had a business, rental property, a large retirement account, or unfiled prior returns.

Do not pay the decedent bills from a personal account in week one, do not clean out the house, and do not let family members take property as keepsakes before the inventory. Each of those acts creates a record problem the executor has to explain later.

### 3. Get appointed, then act

A will names a nominee. The court makes an executor.

- File the petition or application with the original will, a certified death certificate, and the filing fee, in the court from the state profile.
- Attend any hearing, post bond if the court requires it, and receive the authority document. States call it Letters Testamentary when there is a will, Letters of Administration when there is not, or just Letters. Banks and custodians act on the Letters, not on the will.
- Get an Employer Identification Number for the estate, through IRS Form SS-4 or the IRS online application. The estate is a separate taxpayer from the decedent. Never run estate money under the decedent Social Security number after appointment, and never run it through the executor personal account.
- File IRS Form 56, Notice Concerning Fiduciary Relationship, when the tax professional advises it, so IRS notices about the decedent and the estate reach the executor.
- Open a separate estate bank account under the estate name and EIN. All estate receipts land there and all estate payments leave there. Commingling estate money with personal money is the single fastest way to lose the trust of the court and the beneficiaries.
- Send copies of the Letters to each bank, custodian, insurer, and agency on the inventory, and log the date each one accepted them.

Until the Letters issue, the executor job is preservation only: secure property, keep insurance live, arrange the funeral, and gather papers.

### 4. Notifications and the death certificate log

Keep one log with a row per recipient: recipient, why they need notice, date sent, method, proof kept, reply or confirmation, and follow up date. Core recipients:

- Social Security Administration, confirmed as in section 2, plus a separate survivor benefits enquiry. A spouse may be due a one time $255 lump sum death payment, and certain family members may be due monthly survivor benefits. Reporting the death and applying for benefits are two different acts.
- Banks, brokerages, and retirement custodians, with Letters and a certified certificate where they require one.
- Life, health, auto, and home insurers. Health coverage ends, home and auto coverage on estate property must stay live or be rewritten for the estate, and life claims start here.
- Credit card issuers, lenders, and subscription and utility accounts in the decedent name, to stop charges and stop interest and late fees being argued later. Ask each creditor in writing what it needs to close or freeze the account.
- The post office, for the mail forward to the executor.
- Any employer or pension payer, for final pay, accrued benefits, and pension survivor options.
- The state motor vehicle office for titled vehicles, when the state profile calls for it.
- Credit bureaus, with a death notice, to cut off new credit in the decedent name. Keep the confirmation.
- Known creditors get the formal creditor notice in section 6 as well. A courtesy call does not start their claim clock. The statutory notice does.

Certificate log columns: certificates ordered, date received, certificate number range if the state numbers them, each copy sent to whom on what date, and copies on hand. When copies on hand hits zero with open items left, reorder that day.

### 5. Inventory: probate and non probate in separate columns

Inventory everything the decedent owned or owed, then sort each asset by how it passes at death. Title and beneficiary paperwork decide the column, not the will and not family belief.

Probate assets pass through the court under the will, or under the state intestacy law when there is no will. The usual shapes:

- Real estate titled in the decedent name alone, or as a tenant in common.
- Bank and brokerage accounts in the decedent name alone with no payable on death or transfer on death designation.
- Vehicles and tangible property titled or held in the decedent name alone.
- Business interests held personally, and refunds, final pay, or claims owed to the decedent.

Non probate assets pass outside the court to a named person. Track them, help the beneficiary claim them if asked, and do not distribute them, sell them, or pay estate bills from them.

- Life insurance and retirement accounts with a living named beneficiary. The designation on the custodian record controls that asset, even when the will says something else.
- Accounts with payable on death or transfer on death designations.
- Property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, or tenancy by the entirety, which passes to the survivor.
- Assets titled in a trust, which the trustee handles under the trust terms.

For every line record: asset, bucket (probate or non probate), value at date of death, the title or beneficiary evidence, and the source document. Date of death value comes from statements at death, appraisals for real estate and valuables, and valuation records for vehicles and business interests. Some assets use an alternate valuation date or a stepped up basis calculation for tax, which is a tax professional decision, recorded as its own note rather than a change to the inventory value.

Debts get the same treatment in a debt schedule: creditor, account, balance at death, secured or unsecured, collateral if secured, and evidence. A debt nobody can document is a claim to be tested in section 6, not a bill to pay on sight.

Run the split check:

    python3 scripts/estate_ledger.py inventory --file inventory.csv
    # probate_total and nonprobate_total, with a FAIL line for any asset
    # missing its title or beneficiary evidence

File the court inventory by the state profile deadline, with probate assets and their date of death values, in the form the court requires. When a new asset or debt surfaces later, file the supplemental inventory the court expects and add the line to the working inventory the same day.

### 6. Creditor window: publish, mail, hold, decide

Claims are where executors get personally caught, so run this phase by date.

1. Publish the creditor notice exactly as the state profile says, and keep the publisher proof or portal confirmation in the claim file.
2. Mail notice to every known or reasonably identifiable creditor, including medical providers from the last illness, card issuers on the debt schedule, lenders, and any government program the state profile names. Keep a mailing list with dates. Mailed notice can carry its own later deadline under state law, so record both the publication bar date and any mailed notice date per creditor.
3. Compute the bar date, write it on the claim file, and set reminders at 30 days out, 7 days out, and the day itself.
4. Open a claim register: creditor, amount claimed, date filed, evidence supplied, status (filed, allowed, rejected, paid, withdrawn), and the date of each decision. One row per claim, updated the day anything changes.
5. Hold distributions while the window is open, apart from court approved allowances or payments the attorney confirms are safe. Money paid out early to a beneficiary is hard to pull back when a valid claim lands late in the window.
6. Test each claim against evidence: a contract, statement, or itemised bill that ties the charge to the decedent. Allow documented claims, reject undocumented or duplicate claims in writing with the reason, and keep the rejection letter. A rejected claimant may sue the estate, so the file should read as if a judge will read it.
7. Pay allowed claims only after the bar date, in the state priority order, from the estate account, one ledger line per payment. If the estate cannot pay everyone in full, stop and take the priority order and the insolvency question to the attorney and the court before paying anyone in the affected class. Paying a low priority claim in full while a high priority claim goes short is the error this phase exists to prevent.

Check the register:

    python3 scripts/estate_ledger.py claims --file claims.csv --bar-date 2026-07-01 --as-of 2026-06-01
    # days left in the window, open claims total, and a FAIL line for any
    # late filed claim still sitting open with no ruling

Federal tax claims sit at the top in practice. An executor who distributes estate property before federal taxes are paid can be personally liable for the unpaid tax. Treat the tax reserve in section 8 as untouchable until the returns are filed and paid.

### 7. The estate ledger

One ledger, started on day one, covering only the estate account. Every dollar in or out gets a line the day it moves: date, type (receipt, disbursement, distribution), category, description, amount, and evidence (statement, receipt, check number, closing disclosure, signed beneficiary receipt).

Rules that keep the ledger court ready:

- No line without evidence. If the paper does not exist yet, the line description says what is coming and the follow up is dated.
- Sales record gross price as the receipt and costs, payoffs, and taxes as their own disbursement lines. Netting hides numbers the final accounting has to show.
- In kind distributions (a car, furniture, a house transferred rather than sold) stay out of the cash ledger and go on a separate in kind schedule with the inventory value, the recipient, the date, and a signed receipt. The accounting in section 9 ties the two together.
- The executor personal money never enters the ledger. If the executor advances a cost, the advance is documented outside the ledger and reimbursed as one disbursement line with the underlying receipts attached.
- Reconcile the ledger to the bank statement every month. The ledger balance and the statement balance agree, or the difference is a named line being chased, never a plug figure.

Run the balance check before any accounting or beneficiary update goes out:

    python3 scripts/estate_ledger.py ledger --file ledger.csv
    # receipts, disbursements, distributions, closing balance, totals by
    # category, and a FAIL line for any entry with no evidence

### 8. Debts, expenses, and taxes in order

Pay in the state priority order. The pattern in most states, subject to the profile: secured debts are satisfied from their collateral or paid when it sells; administration costs and reasonable funeral expenses sit high; taxes and debts with federal preference sit high; last illness medical costs follow; general unsecured claims come after. When the estate is plainly solvent and the bar date has passed, the order rarely changes who gets paid. When money is short, the order is the whole case.

Tax work, with the tax professional:

- Final individual return, Form 1040 or 1040-SR, for the period from January 1 to the date of death, signed by the appointed personal representative, and by the surviving spouse as well on a joint return. Usual due date is the normal filing date for that tax year. The person in charge of the property files and signs when there is no appointed representative. Use Form 1310 for a refund claim due a deceased taxpayer when it applies.
- Estate income tax return, Form 1041, for income the estate itself earns after death (rent, interest, dividends, gain on sales) when the estate has gross income of $600 or more in its tax year, or a beneficiary who is a nonresident alien. The estate files under its EIN, and beneficiaries who receive income or distributions get Schedule K-1 from the estate in the final year and in years when income is distributed.
- Estate tax return, Form 706, only when the estate meets the federal filing test for the year of death, plus any state estate or inheritance tax return the state profile names. Check the current IRS instructions for the year of death rather than relying on a threshold remembered from another year.
- Prior unfiled returns and unpaid balances of the decedent, found through the mail, IRS transcripts the representative is authorised to pull, and the debt schedule. These are estate obligations, not surprises to leave for beneficiaries.
- Administration expenses are deducted once: on the estate tax return or on the estate income tax return, not both. Record which return took each expense.
- Keep a tax reserve in the estate account until every required return is filed and every balance is paid, then release the leftover reserve into the residuary in the final distribution.

### 9. Sell, distribute, account, close

Sell assets only for a reason the file states: to pay debts, taxes, or expenses, to fund a cash distribution the will calls for, or because holding the asset costs the estate money. Real estate and business interests get an appraisal or market evidence before pricing, offers are kept, and a sale to the executor, a family member, or a beneficiary gets extra care: independent value evidence, written disclosure to all beneficiaries, and court approval where the state requires it. Self dealing allegations start with cheap insider sales.

Distribution, after the bar date, after allowed claims, after the tax reserve is set:

1. Pay specific cash gifts in the will first, then divide the residuary by the will shares or the intestacy shares.
2. Get a signed receipt for every distribution, cash or in kind, naming the beneficiary, the asset or amount, the date, and that the beneficiary received it. Receipts are the closing evidence, not a courtesy.
3. For a beneficiary who cannot be found, is a minor, or is in dispute, do not improvise. Use the court route the state profile names (deposit with the court, a trust or custodial account the documents allow) and file the proof.
4. Consider a signed receipt and refunding agreement for an early partial distribution only with attorney advice, and never let partial distributions drop the estate below open claims plus the tax reserve plus a stated cushion.

Final accounting, built from the ledger and the inventory, not written fresh:

    python3 scripts/estate_ledger.py accounting --inventory inventory.csv --ledger ledger.csv
    # probate inventory total, receipts, disbursements, distributions,
    # closing balance, verdict READY_TO_CLOSE only at a zero balance with
    # no missing evidence lines

The accounting tells the story in numbers a beneficiary can follow: what the probate estate held at death, what came in, what went out for debts, taxes, and administration, what each beneficiary received, and what remains. Attach the in kind schedule and the claim register summary. File the accountings the state profile requires (annual during a long administration, final at closing), serve them on the beneficiaries as the court directs, and keep beneficiary approvals or the court order approving the accounting in the file.

Close in the route the profile names: file the closing statement or petition, show claims paid, taxes filed, distributions receipted, and a zero or explained final balance, then keep the complete estate file (will, Letters, inventory, claim file, ledger, statements, returns, receipts, closing order) for at least the period the attorney advises. Beneficiaries and courts ask questions years later, and the file is the answer.

## Output Contract

For one estate, the work produces:

- A state profile at the head of the case file: court, inventory deadline, creditor notice method and bar date, priority order, small estate route, closing route, each with its source.
- A notification and death certificate log with no open row left undated.
- An inventory CSV (asset, bucket, value_dod, title_or_beneficiary, evidence) split into probate and non probate totals, plus a matching debt schedule, checked with the inventory command.
- A claim register CSV (creditor, amount_claimed, date_filed, status, evidence) checked against the bar date with the claims command.
- An estate ledger CSV (date, type, category, description, amount, evidence) reconciled monthly to the estate bank statement, checked with the ledger command.
- A tax checklist for the estate: final individual return, estate income return test, estate tax return test, state returns, and the reserve held until all are filed and paid.
- A final accounting that starts at the probate inventory total and ends at a zero closing balance, with the in kind schedule, claim summary, and a signed receipt for every distribution.

Worked numbers for all of the above, from first week to final distribution, sit in `references/worked-settlement.md`. Source notes sit in `references/state-rules-and-sources.md`.

## Operating Rules

- Act only within the Letters. Authority comes from the court appointment, and it ends at closing. A nominee under a will has preservation duties before appointment, not spending power.
- Keep estate money separate, always. One estate account, under the estate EIN, no personal funds in, no personal spending out, no exceptions for convenience.
- Treat beneficiaries impartially and in writing. Same information, same timing, for every beneficiary in the same class. Verbal updates to one favourite beneficiary are how impartiality claims are born.
- No distribution before its turn. Bar date passed, allowed claims paid or reserved, tax reserve set, in that order.
- Never state a state deadline, threshold, or priority order from memory or from another state. Pull it into the profile with its source, then use it.
- Never invent a value. Date of death values come from statements, appraisals, and valuation records named on the inventory line.
- Pay nothing on an undocumented claim, and reject in writing with a reason. Silence reads as acceptance in a later dispute.
- Do not give legal or tax advice beyond this workflow. Contested, insolvent, litigated, or business heavy estates go to a probate attorney and a tax professional in the state of the estate, early rather than after a mistake.
- Protect the decedent and the beneficiaries on paper: Social Security numbers, account numbers, and certificates stay in the case file, shared only with the institutions that require them, one copy at a time, logged.