Closing the Estate: Send Assent Forms to Close the Estate

24 Monday Jul 2017

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Assent Forms, Attorney, Attorney General, Belligerent Beneficiary, Beneficiary, Close the Estate, Distribution, estate, estate account, Estate Resesrve, Executor, Final Account, Final Accounting, Final Distribution, Inventory of Assets, Massachusetts Probate Court

On October 1, 2013, after completing the final accounting, it was time to get approval to close the estate. As mentioned in the article Closing the Estate: Complete the Final Accounting, the attorney would send assent forms along with the final Inventory of Assets and the Final Account to each beneficiary. If the beneficiaries approved of both documents, they would sign and return the assent form. Moreover, if all assent forms returned signed, this would allow me to start the closing process. Otherwise, any beneficiary wanting to contest the Final Account would notify the attorney of their intentions. So, sending the assent forms for approval from the beneficiaries was really a referendum on the estate administration. As a result, this was an anxious time for me as an executor.

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Setting up the Estate Reserve and the Final Distribution

17 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by Robert Dowling in Probate

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Attorney, Beneficiaries, estate account, Estate Administration, Estate Closing, Estate Reserve, Executor, Final Account, Final Accounting, Final Distribution, Formal Probate Process, Miscellaneous Expenses, probate, Schedule B, Tax Professional, Unexpected Expenses, Will

When completing Schedule B in the final accounting, setting up an estate reserve and the final distribution becomes necessary. As mentioned in the article Closing the Estate: Complete the Final Accounting, Schedule B takes more time to complete than Schedule A. The reason is that the executor has to step out of the final account to complete the following tasks:

Set up an estate reserve that will pay expenses beyond the closing of the estate.
Calculate a final distribution using the remaining funds in the estate account.

Since the estate reserve and the final distribution represent future expenses of the estate, they become part of Schedule B. Also, because the two items are future expenses, planning and estimating future expenses becomes necessary. As a result, the executor may have to delay completing Schedule B for at least a couple of days.

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Closing the Estate: Complete the Final Accounting

10 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by Robert Dowling in Estate

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Assent Forms, Attorney, Bank Fees, Bank Statements, Beneficiaries, Bookkeeping System, Close the Estate, estate account, Executor, Final Account, Final Accounting, Income and Expense Report, Income and Expenses, Inventory of Assets, Record Keeping System, Schedule A, Schedule B, Schedule C

After updating the estate account and completing the final Inventory of Assets, it was time to complete the final accounting. As mentioned in the article Closing an Estate in a Formal Probate Process, the attorney sent me three schedules that made up the final account. With instructions to review the schedules, I began to look them over. During the review, the schedules were already organized by category. Additionally, provided values, presumably by the attorney, were on Schedule A and Schedule B. Since the attorney warned me that values would appear, this didn’t concern me. Also, although the categories surprised me a little, the attorney would explain the categories the next day. So, after my review, the task to complete the final accounting was ready to begin.

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Closing an Estate in a Formal Probate Process

19 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by Robert Dowling in Probate

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Assent Forms, Attorney, Beneficiaries, Common Estates, Distribution, Estates, Executor, Final Account, Final Distribution, Formal Probate Process, Informal Closing, Inventory of Assets, Partial Distribution, Probate Court, Schedule A, Schedule B, Schedule C, Simplified Probate Process

When closing an estate, some states that use a formal probate process, allow for an informal closing for common estates. These states simplified the probate process for estates that are straightforward; not complicated or contested. Fortunately, Massachusetts is one of those states. In Massachusetts, closing an estate using the simplified probate process involves the following tasks:

Complete a final Inventory of Assets.
Using the Inventory of Assets in the final accounting, complete the final accounting.
Under cover of an assent form, send copies of the Inventory of Assets and the final accounting to each beneficiary.
After receiving the signed assent forms from each beneficiary, the executor must sign the form called Account (MPC853). The signed Account form, with the original Inventory of Assets and final accounting attached, essentially closes the estate.
Make the final distribution to the beneficiaries.

In Massachusetts, the simplified probate process allows straightforward, common estates to avoid the probate court when closing an estate. Instead, the approval of the Inventory of Assets and final accounting from all the beneficiaries informally closes the estate.

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Completing Preliminary Tasks to Close the Estate

12 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by Robert Dowling in Estate

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Attorney, Bookkeeping, Creditors, decedent, estate, estate account, Estate Administration, Estate Documents, Estate Property, Executor, Final Account, Final Accounting, Financial Statements, Fiscal Year, Inventory of Assets, Record Keeping, Schedules

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 1^st, 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.

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Tag Archives: Final Account

Closing the Estate: Send Assent Forms to Close the Estate

Setting up the Estate Reserve and the Final Distribution

Closing the Estate: Complete the Final Accounting

Closing an Estate in a Formal Probate Process

Completing Preliminary Tasks to Close the Estate