On August 22, 2013, with nothing much left to do, I began preliminary tasks to close the estate. In fact, ten days prior, I was working on preliminary tasks until the belligerent beneficiary disrupted the process as described in the article One Last Gripe from the Belligerent Beneficiary. So, on August 22nd, it was a good time to pick up where I left off. On this day, I was finally able to update the initial distribution amounts to the estate account.
Although things were slow at this point, I knew I would be busy in the upcoming month. On September 1st, two events would occur:
- The one year anniversary of the decedent’s death is the end of the fiscal year for the estate. With all the property settled, this date sets a deadline for the estate income taxes to December 15, 2013.
- The time for creditors to make a claim against the estate would expire. After this date, creditors had no recourse.
Basically, the two events clear the way to close the estate. Since the estate income taxes were off the estate, the only task left was to close the estate. So, collecting documents and financial statements occupied my time for the rest of August in preparation for the final accounting.
Continue reading →
The accounting process of an estate is an integral part of the probate process. Although estate law is different in many states, all states allow beneficiaries access to a final accounting. Therefore, an executor of an estate must produce a final accounting to close the estate.
