Everyone who dies with possessions has an estate. How their estates get administered and disbursed depends on their plan. Now when a public hearing is necessary in Missouri, estates get disbursed with the help of an executor. The executor’s role, interestingly, is the same as an administrator’s. What differs is how each is appointed to their role of execution.
At a judge’s request
Estate planning can assign a specific person to handle your estate, and this person is called the executor. Estate owners who fail to appoint someone will leave this decision to a probate judge. When judges appoint executors, they are called administrators. These persons might be family members or outside agencies with the right qualifications. Early on in the process, the executor and administrator are involved and must be identified from the onset.
Estate execution and administration
Executing an estate starts off with making a public notice of both the probate hearing and the death of a particular person. Probate is the trial that a public court holds when there’s no specific executor listed. During probate, the entire estate of someone deceased is accounted for. Making this account is possible due to the executor who, like an administrator, will:
- Collect assets: To price someone’s property, everything they own must first be collected.
- Search for heirs: The beneficiaries set to receive the assets of a deceased get notified.
- Pay off debts: Taxes must be paid by the executor on behalf of the deceased.
For estates with owners who die intestate, that is without leaving wishes behind, a probate judge works to assess property and divide it up equitably. You can have confidence that an administrator will get appointed when there isn’t one named in a will.