When someone experiences the loss of a loved one, it can be a very difficult time. As if the loss was not enough, add to the grief the prospect of being nominated to handle and close the affairs of that person, making all the decisions that need to get made while being tugged in different directions by everyone from the funeral director to Uncle Henry, and then having to navigate through the court system; this can be quite intimidating and a thankless job.

There are many tasks that a personal representative or executor has to perform and steps the law requires them to take to fully complete the administration of an estate. Most people are lucky and only have to do this once or twice in their life. Unfortunately, this also means that they have no experience in which to draw to know what should happen, when and in what order. A probate administration is not instantaneous, will take some time to complete, and pitfalls abound for the unwary. In short, having an experienced probate and trust administration law firm like Pfarr & Rethore is essential to assisting families in this difficult time.

Generally, Estate administration is a public administration of the deceased’s affairs through court proceedings in probate. Much of what occurs is statutorily set and heirs have no other alternative but to follow these guidelines. The initial efforts of the Estate primarily are focused on securing the estate property, inventorying assets, identifying the owners of those assets and estimating values, securing any death benefits, identifying potential creditors, notifying certain people about the death, calendaring important dates, and filing tax returns. There is a set process to all of this that one cannot shortcut. If a personal representative does not follow the proper steps it can result in inadvertent mistakes that make administration more difficult, longer and costly.>

Trust administration is a private administration of an Estate. Although it generally concludes sooner than a probate, many of the administrative tasks are similar, and it is important to seek assistance in the process.

The lawyers at Pfarr & Rethore, P.C. have been helping families navigate through the challenges of the probate and trust administration for over twenty years. Contact us today toll free at 866.641.9981 for a free initial consultation. We accept many cases without an initial retainer fee.

• You are the parent of minor children
• You want to protect your wealth
• You want to decide if you want your family to pay estate and gift taxes at the time of your death
• You want to understand the importance of “Columbus’ Ships” in estate planning: ownership, relationship, and stewardship 
• You want counseling as part of your planning to avoid the pitfalls of a trust-in-a-box based plan and to have established a solid relationship with a trusted advisor that you can rely on to care for your spouse and family when you are not able to do so yourself

Please call or email our office to receive a free audio CD, Estate Planning 101: Live Planning vs. Death Planning, discussing the basics of estate planning including the opportunities that currently exist in the law to benefit your beneficiaries and the challenges many estates plans face when done incompletely or when not annually updated.