What Does an Executor of an Estate Do? Duties and Checklist

An executor is the person named in a last will and testament to settle the estate of someone who died: to gather what they owned, pay what they owed, and pass on what remains to the people the will names. It is part administrator, part record-keeper, part family diplomat. And if the role has just landed on you, it has probably landed in the same week as a funeral.

This guide walks the job in the order it actually happens, from the first days through the final court filing, with a printable checklist near the end. One honest note before any of it: almost every deadline, dollar threshold, and filing rule in probate varies by state. Where a number on this page is real, it carries its source; where the truth is “it depends on your state,” the page says exactly that, and your county probate court is the place to confirm.

If the death happened in the last few days, start with what to do when someone dies, which covers the first hours and the first week: the calls to make, the paperwork to gather, and everything that comes before the court appoints you.

What an executor is, and when the job actually starts

An executor of an estate does not decide who gets what. The will already did. The executor’s job is to carry the will out faithfully, as a fiduciary: acting in the interest of the estate and its beneficiaries rather than their own, keeping a record of every transaction, and never using the position for personal advantage (Equifax).

That duty has teeth. Hand money out to the family before the debts and taxes are settled, and the shortfall can come out of your own pocket: executors can be held personally liable for mistakes like that (Albertson & Davidson). None of this is meant to frighten. It is meant to explain the rhythm of everything below, which never changes: secure first, pay first, distribute last, write everything down.

Timing matters too, because being named is not the same as being empowered. Your legal authority begins when the probate court appoints you and issues letters testamentary, not at the moment of death (Atticus). Until then you can secure property and help with the funeral, but a bank will not hand over an account on the strength of the will alone.

One more piece of vocabulary before the work starts: executors come in several forms: sole executors, co-executors, alternates, digital executors. The definitions live in our executor types glossary entry; this page covers what the job itself involves, whichever form yours takes.

The first days: secure what needs securing, and find the will

The real list in the first days is shorter than it feels. Secure the home and anything valuable inside it, along with any vehicles. Collect or forward the mail (an empty house with an overflowing mailbox invites trouble) and make sure any pets have somewhere to be.

The funeral is usually planned by the family together, with the executor holding some of the practical threads. One pattern worth passing on from this side of the process: funeral wishes written only into a will are often found too late to be honored. Wherever you record your own, share them separately.

The obituary, likewise, tends to fall to the family rather than the executor in the first week. If it has fallen to you as well, there is a step-by-step guide to how to write an obituary.

Then, the searching. Find the original will: desk drawers, a home safe, a filing cabinet, sometimes an attorney’s office. Look also for a letter of instruction: an informal note some people leave about accounts, passwords, and wishes. It has no legal force, but it can save you weeks of hunting.

Order several certified copies of the death certificate; the funeral home can usually order them for you. Banks, insurers, and government agencies will each want to see one, and how many you need depends on how many institutions you will be dealing with. There is no magic number.

While you are with the funeral home, confirm that they are reporting the death to the Social Security Administration (most do, using Form SSA-721) rather than assuming it happened (USAGov). One consequence to know early: Social Security does not prorate the final month. The benefit payment for the month of death has to be returned, no matter how late in the month the death came (AARP).

Beyond this (securing things, the funeral, the gathering of papers), almost nothing demands to happen this week. More on that below, because it matters.

The first weeks: file the will and open probate

Filing the will with the probate court in the county where the person lived is what starts probate: the court process that validates the will and oversees the estate. The court confirms the will, formally appoints the executor, and issues the letters testamentary that banks and brokers will ask to see.

How fast this must happen is the first place state law truly scatters. Most states give somewhere between 10 and 90 days to deposit the will with the court (AllLaw/Nolo), but Florida expects it within ten days (SmartAsset), while Texas can allow up to four years (Trust & Will). So the only honest general rule is this: it varies by state, it is often within weeks, and your county probate court can tell you your deadline in one phone call.

Before opening full probate, ask the court clerk one question: does this estate qualify for the small-estate shortcut? Every state has one (a small-estate affidavit or a summary administration) for estates below a certain value. That threshold varies too widely to quote a number here, but if the estate qualifies, you may be able to skip much of what follows. Our guide to affidavits explains how that route works.

And if there is no valid will at all, the court appoints an administrator instead of an executor: the same job under a different rulebook. More on that in the FAQ below.

Once the court appoints you: notifications, the estate account, and the inventory

With letters testamentary in hand, the job widens. First, give the estate its own footing: request an EIN (a tax ID number for the estate) from the IRS, and use it to open a dedicated estate bank account (IRS). From here, every dollar the estate receives or spends runs through that account. Never mix estate money with your own; the account exists to make that easy, and to build the clean record the court will eventually want to see.

Then the notifications, in widening circles: banks and brokerages; life insurers; the employer, for final pay and any benefits; pension plans. Notify the credit bureaus as well, so the credit file is flagged and no one can quietly open accounts in the person’s name.

Creditors get formal notice too. That one is required, and it is state-specific in both method and timing. Some states have you publish a notice, others require contacting known creditors directly, and the windows creditors get to respond differ. The court clerk can tell you what your state expects.

Next comes the inventory: a written list of everything the estate owns (accounts, real estate, vehicles, valuables) and what each is worth. Many states require filing the inventory with the court; ask whether yours does.

And while all of this happens, the physical estate stays your responsibility. The house gets maintained and the insurance stays current until the day the property is distributed or sold (MetLife).

The long middle: debts, then taxes

Here the order matters more than the speed. Debts are paid before anyone inherits anything, and they are paid from estate funds: never from your own pocket, and never after the money has already gone out to the family. This is the personal-liability trap from earlier, and it is avoided by sequence alone: creditors first, beneficiaries after.

Taxes come in layers, and most estates only ever touch the first one. The final personal income tax return (a last Form 1040) covers the person’s income up to the date of death. If the estate itself earns income while it is open, such as interest, dividends, or rent, a separate estate income tax return, Form 1041, is required once that income passes $600 gross (IRS).

The federal estate tax, despite its reputation, touches almost no one: for deaths in 2026, it applies only to estates above $15 million per person (Kiplinger). The state layer is smaller but real. As of 2026, twelve states and the District of Columbia levy their own estate tax, and five states (Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) levy an inheritance tax, paid by the people who inherit (Tax Foundation). Whether any of this applies is a state-by-state question; check before distributing.

The last stretch: distribute what remains and close the estate

Distribution runs in a set order: specific gifts first (the car left to a named grandchild, the ring left to a sister) and then the residuary estate, everything that remains after the gifts, debts, and costs. What counts as residuary, and how it gets divided, is its own topic; see our guide to the residuary estate.

As each beneficiary receives their share, collect a signed receipt. Then comes the final accounting: a complete record of everything that came into the estate and everything that went out since the death. This is the moment all the disciplined record-keeping pays off.

How an estate formally ends varies by state. Some require a petition for discharge, which releases you from the role; others allow a simpler, informal closing. Either way, the last acts are the same: the accounting is settled, the final distributions clear, and the estate bank account closes. At that point the job is done, and so is your responsibility for it.

What the job really asks of you

Everything above is the process. Here is the part most process guides skip: you will be doing all of it while grieving, and the paperwork does not know that. You will cancel the subscriptions of someone you loved, read their mail, price their car, and sit on hold with their bank. It is normal for that to be harder than any single filing. The work is mundane and the timing is cruel, and both of those things are true at once.

So know what the first week actually requires of you: almost nothing. Secure the home, get through the funeral. Nearly everything else can wait a week, and much of it can wait longer. The one early check worth making is your state’s window for filing the will, since in a few states it is short. Everything else keeps.

It also helps to know the true size of the job, because almost everyone underestimates it. In EstateExec’s national survey of executors, settling an estate took an average of about 16 months and roughly 570 hours of the executor’s own effort, and 80 percent of estates settled within 18 months (EstateExec). Fidelity’s framing tells the same story from the other end: a simple estate can settle in as little as about three months, while complex ones run a year or several (Fidelity). This is a long project punctuated by short deadlines. Pace yourself accordingly, and let the checklist below hold the sequence so your head does not have to.

The role is also, by law, a paid one. Some states set the fee with a statutory schedule. California’s, for example, steps down through percentage bands as the estate grows: 4 percent, then 3, 2, 1, and finally half a percent (Probate Code §10800, via SwiftProbate). Elsewhere, courts approve “reasonable compensation.” Two realities temper it: the fee is taxable income, and family members often waive it. Whether you take it is your decision. The law’s position is simply that months of work deserve the option.

And you do not have to do it alone. Executors routinely bring in a probate attorney for the filings or an accountant for the tax returns. Asking for help is not a failure of the duty; keeping the estate moving is the duty.

The full executor checklist

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Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between an executor and an administrator?

The job is nearly identical; the difference is how you get it. An executor is named in a will and confirmed by the court. An administrator is appointed by the court when there is no will, or no named executor able to serve. Instead of following a will, an administrator distributes property according to the state’s intestacy rules. Our guide to what intestate means covers how that works.

What is the difference between an executor and a power of attorney?

They cover different halves of the timeline. A power of attorney lets someone act for you while you are alive, and its authority ends at the moment of death. An executor’s role begins after the death, and only once the probate court makes the appointment official. The same person can hold both roles, but they are different documents, on different clocks.

How long does an executor have to settle an estate?

There is no universal deadline for finishing. Individual steps have their own state-specific clocks, but the estate as a whole takes as long as it takes: months for a simple one, years for a complex one. In EstateExec’s national survey, the average was about 16 months, and 80 percent of estates settled within 18 months (EstateExec).

Does an executor get paid?

Yes. State law entitles an executor to compensation, either through a set percentage schedule or as court-approved “reasonable compensation,” and the fee counts as taxable income. Family members often waive it, but that is a choice, not a requirement.

Can an executor also be a beneficiary?

Yes. It is legal and extremely common: wills routinely name a spouse or an adult child who also inherits. The duty stays the same either way: carry out the will faithfully for everyone named in it. Whether the person who inherits is also the right person to serve is a different question, one for whoever is writing a will, not for the one settling it.

Do I need a lawyer to settle an estate?

In most situations you are not required to hire one. Many executors do anyway, for the court filings, or when the estate is large, contested, or unusual. If the estate is small, ask the court about its simplified procedures first. Every state has some form of them.

This guide explains the executor’s job in general terms; it is not legal advice, and probate rules genuinely differ by state. For decisions about a specific estate, a probate attorney licensed in your state, or the clerk at your county probate court, is the right place to ask.

One last thought, from the other side of the table. If this page shows you what your own family would one day face, a plan spares them the scramble: the hunt for the will, the guessing at wishes, the accounts nobody can find. That is what end-of-life planning is for, and the calmest time to start is a week when nobody needs you to.