A personal representative (sometimes called an executor of a will) in Florida is the person who carries out the will and wishes of a decedent. But the duties of a personal representative, as West Palm Beach Probate litigation attorneys will tell you, stretch beyond the will:
- The appointed personal representative of a Florida resident’s estate is in charge of distributing the assets of the estate and must abide by certain fiduciary duties that he or she owes to thebeneficiaries (the individuals named to receive assets) of the estate.
- Suppose you are named a beneficiary of your recently deceased grandfather’s estate in Miami Beach.
- Under Florida law, the personal representative must abide by certain duties to ensure that you receive the assets that the estate leaves in your name.
- Florida Probate Code section 733.602 states that a personal representative has a duty “to settle and distribute the estate of the decedent in accordance with the terms of the decedent’s will…as expeditiously and efficiently as is consistent with the best interests of the estate.”
A personal representative necessarily enjoys broad powers to administer an estate of a decedent (West Palm Beach). Pursuant to Florida Probate Code section 733.608:
- The personal representative holds all of the “real and personal property of the decedent, except the protected homestead” and “the rents, income, issues, and profits” from any such property.
- The personal representative then uses these assets to pay set amounts of gifts or money, the family allowance, any elective share, estate taxes, and other expenses incurred during the administration of the estate.
- Additionally, the personal representative distributes any assets to named beneficiaries of the will in accordance with the will’s terms.
The statutes can be read in their entirety here: http://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/733.602;http://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/733.608.
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