Death,
foreseeable or not, is always a devastating experience. In the midst of
this emotional upheaval, one or more persons will be named as the Executor,
Administrator or Trustee, and on this person the burden will fall of
administering the estate.
Simply stated, administering an estate is the process of
finding and gathering the assets, paying the debts and taxes, and distributing
the assets to the heirs. To the uninitiated, this "simple"
process can be filled with the pitfalls of ignored tax elections, overlooked
creditors and missed deadlines that can cost the estate money and lost
opportunity. Add to that the personal liability of the executor, or a
possible will contest, and estate administration quickly goes from simple to
complicated.
We have assisted hundreds of executors in fulfilling their
responsibilities to estates. Our staff is experienced in finding all of a
decedents assets and placing them under the control of the executor by having
title changed to the estate. Because our Estate Administration Department
is staffed with tax attorneys, two of whom are former auditors with the Estate
and Gift Tax Division of the IRS, we can maximize the exemptions and elections
available under the tax code, and prepare an estate tax return which
justifies our client's position. Because of our experience, we are able to
efficiently conclude an estate administration by managing the distribution of
the assets to the beneficiaries so that the responsibilities of the executor
quickly come to an end.
Our clients are especially well served by our ability to draw
on our other practice areas to assist in an estate administration, whether it be
our Real Estate Department to liquidate
property, our Collections practice to gather open
receivables, or our Litigation Department to
reform a document or advocate for our client in a will contest. By relying
on our breadth of experience, an executor can be confident that his or her
duties to the estate will be satisfied in a comprehensive and efficient manner.
Given our knowledge of all
aspects of estate administration, we also counsel beneficiaries and potential
beneficiaries of estates who are seeking to enforce their rights, whether it be
to accelerate the estate administration process or contest a suspect will.
As in our representation of an executor, our clients seeking to enforce their
beneficial interests profit from our ability to evaluate their issues both from
a probate and litigation viewpoint.
Article, links and FAQ's specific to issues surrounding estate administration
can be found in our Library.
If you are involved in an estate administration and are
seeking direction as how to proceed, please contact Henry
H. Fein, Shareholder managing our Tax, Trusts and Estate and Elder Law
Department.
