Our North Carolina Estate Administration Lawyers Can Help You Settle Your Loved One's Estate With Confidence
Serving as the executor of an estate in North Carolina comes with significant responsibilities and legal obligations. From filing the will with the probate court to distributing assets to beneficiaries, the role requires careful attention to detail and adherence to state laws. While the process can seem daunting, you don't have to navigate it alone. The experienced team at Carolina Family Estate Planning can provide invaluable guidance and support throughout your journey as an executor, ensuring you fulfill your duties efficiently and in compliance with North Carolina statutes.
Duties of a North Carolina Executor or Personal Representative
Estate executors, personal representatives, administrators, and trustees are interchangeable terms for the person responsible for managing a decedent’s assets after their death. These roles come with immense responsibility. The duties of North Carolina executors and personal representatives include:
- Locating the decedent’s will
- Gathering information about the decedent’s assets
- Taking certain measures to safeguard the assets and property of the estate
- Act in the best interests of the estate
- Handle all required court filings in an accurate and timely manner
- Prepare exact accountings and inventory of the estate’s assets
- Properly notify known and unknown creditors
- Handle all local, North Carolina, and Federal tax filings and liabilities
- Identify and appropriately pay or reject all claims against the estate
- Handle administrative expenses of the estate
- Properly allocate and distribute assets to the estate’s beneficiaries
- Retain records and receipts for all estate receipts, expenses, and distributions
- Properly close the estate when administration is complete
5 Legal Traps to Avoid If You've Been Named the Executor of a Loved One's Estate
1. Over Reporting Assets on the Court Inventory Forms
Filing an accurate estate inventory is one of your primary duties as an executor. This inventory will provide descriptions and values of all of the decedent’s assets as of the date of their death.
Some of the mistakes we commonly see executors make is over-reporting and including assets on inventories that do not need to be on the forms. Even if you knew the decedent well, you might have trouble determining the exact values of their intangible assets, such as their real estate and vehicles.
However, the filing fees and court fees you must pay out of the decedent’s estate depend on the value of the assets listed in their inventory. As a result, over-valuing these assets may lead you to owe more fees.
2. Paying Creditors That Don’t Need to be Paid
Settling the decedent’s debts is another duty you must perform as executor of the estate. Creditors may send you bills or invoices for the decedent’s debts, and you will need to use funds from the estate to pay these bills.
However, not all bills you receive will be valid claims against the estate. Sometimes, organizations may send you false invoices, attempting to steal from the estate.
Failing to identify these invalid claims correctly could cause you to pay more money to settle the estate than is needed. As we’ll discuss later, if you distribute the estate incorrectly, you may need to pay for any mistakes out of pocket.
Some of the decedent’s debts may be negotiable. An estate administration attorney may be able to help you negotiate more favorable terms on bills you receive, as well as help you determine which invoices are legitimate.
3. Being Liable for Mistakes
When you accept the role of executor of an estate, you accept a fiduciary duty over the decedent’s assets. This means that you must act in the estate’s best interests.
Even if you have the best intentions, there is a chance that you may make a costly mistake during your executor rule, leaving you personally liable for any errors. As a result, you must pay out of pocket.
For example, if you pay a creditor that does not need to be paid or give funds to the wrong person and fail to recover them, you’ll need to make up for them yourself.
Most executors are not experts in estate administration. They’re ordinary people who had a close personal relationship with a recent decedent. That’s why many executors enlist the assistance of an estate administration lawyer to avoid costly mistakes like the ones described.
4. Wasting Time
As an executor, you must complete certain tasks within specific time frames after the decedent’s death. For example, you must complete the estate inventory within three months.
However, if you’re unfamiliar with the responsibilities in this role, you may end up wasting time as you attempt to navigate your duties. For example, you may fill out forms incorrectly and have to redo them.
Each time this happens, it will delay the estate by weeks or months, prolonging your executor responsibilities. The decedent’s beneficiaries may also become impatient if they must wait too long to receive their assets.
5. Improper Distribution of Funds
As an estate executor, you’ll also be responsible for distributing assets to the beneficiaries. If you’re unfamiliar with the legal terminology in the will or are simply unclear about your responsibilities, you may be prone to mistakes when transferring assets.
For example, you may accidentally make distributions to people who shouldn't receive them or distribute improper amounts to the decedent’s beneficiaries. If you cannot get those funds back, you may need to correct them out of your own pocket.
Executor duties are numerous, complex, and time-consuming. If you’ve been named executor of an estate, having an estate administration attorney on your side to walk you through the process can help you avoid the above mistakes and streamline your duties.
Let Us Guide You Through the Estate Administration Process
While being named Executor can be an honor—your loved one trusted you with the responsibility of settling his or her final affairs—it also comes with a lot of responsibility and risk. An Executor or Personal Representative breaches fiduciary duty is personally liable for such breach—meaning that if you mess up, it comes out of your own pocket, not the estate’s pocket. This is why is it is a smart decision to hire a probate lawyer to assist you.
Losing a loved one is hard. The days and weeks after a loss are often fraught with grief, questions, and unfortunately, family complications. It’s a terrible time to try to think through a legal process clearly. It’s often a challenge just to know where to start. Maybe you’re not even sure what questions to ask and whom to ask. How do you know you’re getting good advice and doing it right? You could probably use some help. Our Understanding Estate Administration guide can help. This guide will give you an overview of the probate and estate administration process in plain English. Request your free copy here.
