In November 2012, my attorney informed me that the probate court approved me as executor of my Uncle’s estate. However, the attorney didn’t have the Letters of Authority for Personal Representative at the moment. So, the attorney told me that the letter will arrive in a couple of days. I couldn’t wait to get going on closing the estate. As noted in the article In the Interim, I had the estate organized and ready to administer. Consequently, the approval process took two months and time was ticking away. In Massachusetts, the formal probate process takes a year, and now I was down to ten months.

Organize the First Steps

Fortunately, my attorney contacted me about the approval. This gave me a couple of days to organize my first steps. The first steps consisted of the following tasks:

• Apply for an EIN number for the estate.
  
• Open the estate bank account. You need the approval letter and a copy of the death certificate to open an estate account. Especially, when you are funding the account with the decedent’s assets.
• Fund the new estate account with the checking and saving accounts of the decedent.

The next day, I applied for the EIN number online and received the EIN for the estate. (Refer to the article Setting up the Formal Probate Process Part 1, under the Notes header, for the link to the IRS and to apply for the EIN).

Approved as Executor: Complete the First Steps

The following day I received the letter of authority and headed to the bank. Moreover, I used my Uncle’s bank  because it was a full service bank and the account opening process would be easier. In fact, the process took no time at all. On the first day as an official executor, I closed four accounts, funded the estate account, and was off to a smooth start.

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