So You're the Executor: A Step-by-Step Guide to Settling an Estate: Probate, Debts, Taxes and Distributing Assets Without Losing Your Mind
About this audiobook
Being named executor does not come with a manual. One week you are grieving, and the next you are holding a folder of court forms, bank statements and a deadline you did not know existed.
This is a plain-spoken, step-by-step companion for the ordinary person asked to do an extraordinary job. It does not assume a law degree, and it does not pad the hard parts with vague reassurance. It walks you through the actual sequence of a routine estate, from the first two weeks to the final discharge, so you always know what comes next.
Inside, you will find:
What being named means, and what it does not mean, in plain language
The concrete steps of the first two weeks, from the death certificate to securing the home
How to locate and read the will, and what happens when there is none
Opening probate: the forms, the filing, and what the court actually wants from you
Taking a full inventory and valuing what is in it, from the obvious to the easy to miss
Notifying heirs, beneficiaries and creditors the right way, in the right order
Handling claims against the estate without overpaying or underpaying anyone
Managing estate accounts, property and ongoing bills while probate runs
The final tax returns, estate tax questions, and the deadlines that matter
Selling or transferring real estate and other property
Distributing what remains, fairly and on the record
Handling family conflict and a difficult beneficiary without losing the relationship or the estate
Special situations: no will, a small estate, and property in another state
Closing the estate for good, and taking care of yourself through the process
Written for the reader who needs to act, not just understand, the book closes with a complete executor's checklist and a glossary of the estate and probate terms you will actually run into.
You were handed this job in the middle of a loss. This book is here to make the rest of it manageable.
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About the author
Merrick Press publishes nonfiction for thoughtful readers. Its list ranges from carefully presented classic texts to practical, plainly written guides for the harder passages of family life and later life. Every Merrick Press guide aims to be honest, calm and useful: clear about what it can and cannot promise, careful with its research, and written for the reader who needs steady, practical help rather than easy answers.
