Have you been selected to serve as the personal representative in West Palm Beach? Do you know what you are expected to do by the West Palm Beach probate court? You may want to take a quick look and refresh yourself on these three important duties of a West Palm Beach personal representative.
#1 Gathering Assets
- As a personal representative it will be your duty to gather the assets of the estate.
- How will you do this?
- The West Palm Beach probate court will issue something known as letters testamentary.
- This basically grants you the authority to act on behalf of the estate as if it were a person, namely you.
- Now you have to go find those assets in West Palm Beach and throughout the world.
- This can include real property like the Miami Beach condo as well as a stock portfolio or safety deposit box in Switzerland.
- What else will you have to do as a West Palm Beach personal representative?
#2 Giving Notice
- You will also be the party who gives notice to everyone.
- Sometimes this will be through publication.
- Do you know what that means?
- You may have to have information published in the local newspaper to let everyone know of the probate.
- Do not worry though the estate will cover expenses.
- You will also have to serve various beneficiaries of the will with notices to keep them apprised of the probate before you distribute the assets and close the estate.
- Usually the online court filing system does most of the work for you in West Palm Beach.
#3 Paying Creditors
- Creditors are an important thing to keep in mind when serving as personal representative.
- That is one of the reasons you have to publish so many notices.
- It is not just unknown heirs it is also the creditors who need to get paid.
- Be careful paying a beneficiary too early may mean you are on the hook to pay off a creditor.
- Good luck getting the beneficiary to pay you back!