An executor collects what the person owned, pays what they owed, files the tax returns and hands over what’s left, in that order. The authority to do it comes from a probate court, not from the will alone. The IRS puts the job in one line: “collect all the decedent’s assets, pay the decedent’s creditors, and distribute the remaining assets to the heirs or other beneficiaries” (Publication 559).
This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Estate law varies by state and changes. Ask the court clerk, or a lawyer or tax professional, about your case.
If you’ve just learned you’re the executor, little of this has to happen today. This section takes the work in the order you’ll meet it. An administrator, the person a court appoints when there’s no will, generally does the same work, and many statutes call both a “personal representative”. No federal law sets out the steps, so the state rules here are examples, read on 5 November 2026. Executor Handbook sells nothing and refers no one.
Find your place
- You’re named in a will and nothing has been filed: start with getting appointed.
- You have the court’s paper and don’t know what to do with it: go to the job in order.
- You’re wondering whether something is allowed: see the limits.
- You’re a beneficiary, waiting: see paying the beneficiaries.
The job in order
The usual shape of the job is nine steps. The executor’s job, step by step is the long version, with deadlines for six states:
- Before court: find the will, secure the property, see what passes outside the will.
- Get appointed: file, give notice, take the oath, get letters.
- Take control: tax number, estate account, insurance, records.
- Inventory: list everything at its value on the date of death.
- Give notice to beneficiaries, heirs and creditors.
- Debts: check claims and pay valid ones in the legal order.
- Taxes: the final personal return, the estate’s income return, any estate tax return.
- Distribute: pay gifts and shares, and get receipts.
- Close: a final account or closing paper, then discharge.
Steps overlap. The fixed part is the sequence of money: in, then debts and taxes, then people. An executor who pays out before the debts and taxes are known can end up answering for the shortfall.
Not every estate needs this. Property with a named beneficiary or a surviving co-owner often passes without an executor, and many states have a shorter route for modest estates, such as a small estate affidavit.
Getting appointed
Being named in a will is a nomination, not authority. California says it plainly: “A person has no power to administer the estate until the person is appointed personal representative and the appointment becomes effective” (Prob. Code 8400). With no will, a statute ranks who may ask for the job, usually starting with the spouse. How to become executor covers each path, who can’t serve, bonds, and how to step aside. A person named generally doesn’t have to accept.
Waiting can cost a named executor the job. Illinois gives 30 days from learning of the nomination to start probate or refuse (755 ILCS 5/6-3, read 5 November 2026 in the Illinois General Assembly’s public file repository). In Texas, the court can grant administration to someone else if the named executor doesn’t present the will before the 31st day after the death and the court finds no good cause (Est. Code 306.002). Other states have their own rules, so ask the clerk early.
Whether you need a lawyer for this also varies. Florida’s Probate Rule 5.030 (the Florida Bar’s copy dated 15 October 2026) requires a Florida lawyer unless the executor remains the sole interested person or is one. New York City’s Surrogate’s Court says “You are not required to have an attorney.”
The appointment ends in a paper from the court, and letters testamentary are what banks, title companies and the IRS ask to see. The name changes by state: Florida calls them letters of administration even when there’s a will (Fla. Stat. 731.201). No state we read sets a total number of days from filing to letters. Read yours before acting, because any limit on your authority is printed there.
Will or trust: whose job is it?
Authority follows title. An executor handles what the person owned in their own name, with no co-owner or named beneficiary. A trustee handles what’s in a trust, and the CFPB tells trustees: “You do not have legal authority over any money or property that is not in the trust.” A trust set up but only partly funded leaves work for an executor, so one death can need both. Trustee vs executor sorts the assets, and covers what happens if you hold both jobs.
The limits
An executor can’t change the will, decide who deserves what, or treat estate money as their own. Most limits have an exception, usually the will, the agreement of everyone affected, or a court order, so the useful question is often “who gave permission?” What an executor can’t do goes through them. Three matter most.
- Keep the money apart. In New York, “Every fiduciary shall keep property received as fiduciary separate from his individual property” (EPTL 11-1.6). A fiduciary is someone legally bound to act for others.
- A fair price alone doesn’t clear a purchase from the estate. In the states that page reads, permission is the test, and the routes differ.
- Follow the legal order of payment. The CFPB says being the executor “does not make you responsible for paying the debt with your own money“, unless the debt is also yours. There is an exception. When an estate can’t pay everything, a representative “paying any part of a debt of the person or estate before paying a claim of the Government is liable to the extent of the payment” (31 USC 3713(b)).
Getting paid
Executors can usually be paid. There is no national fee: of the 29 jurisdictions whose statutes we read, 15 give a formula and 14 say only that pay must be reasonable. Our executor fee calculator estimates the schedule figure and says which kind of rule it is. It isn’t what anyone is owed: a will, a court or the beneficiaries can change the result.
On $500,000, the schedules give $13,000 in California (Prob. Code 10800), $15,000 in Florida, where that figure is presumed reasonable in formal administration (Fla. Stat. 733.617), and $19,000 in New York (SCPA 2307). Those are illustrations, because each state counts a different base. Timing differs too. Florida says commission is payable without a court order. California’s form DE-147 says: “Without prior order of the court, you may not pay fees to yourself or to your attorney”. Either way, the fees are income: personal representatives “must include fees paid to them from an estate in their gross income” (Publication 559).
Paying the beneficiaries
There is no national deadline. Debts, taxes and creditor claims come first, so payment usually comes near the end. How long an executor has to pay beneficiaries gives the state rules we read, and the steps open to someone who thinks a delay has gone too far. Two examples: in Florida, no one can require delivery of a gift or share until 5 months after letters (Fla. Stat. 733.801). In New York, an executor needn’t pay before creditor notice is published or, with no notice, before 7 months after letters (EPTL 11-1.5).
For a sense of the whole job, Oregon publishes real numbers: of 11,796 estates closed in its courts in 2025, 63.3% closed within 360 days, 86.6% within 720 days, and 13.4% took longer (Oregon’s 2025 table). That’s how old the court files were at closing, in one state. California’s courts say formal probate “typically takes 9 to 18 months“.
When to talk to a lawyer
These are the moments to talk to a lawyer before acting:
- A deadline is running and you can’t tell what it is.
- Someone disputes the will, or says they will.
- The estate may not cover its debts, especially if tax may be owed.
- Money or property seems to be missing, or you suspect fraud.
- The person owned a business, or property in another state.
- Heirs are in open conflict, or you have a personal stake in a deal.
Your next step
Start with three things: the original will, a certified death certificate, and a rough list of what the person owned and owed. Then call the probate court clerk in the county where they lived. Ask whether this estate needs full probate, which forms the court uses, and which deadlines apply. Selling the house, dividing belongings and paying out inheritances normally come much later. Keep every receipt from the first day.
Sources checked on 5 November 2026.
