Phone: 208.367.0723______E-mail: [email protected]

managing and distributing assets held in a trust, typically without court involvement, ensuring the trustee adheres to the terms of the trust and fulfills fiduciary duties to the beneficiaries. Legal services in this area include guiding executors or trustees through their responsibilities, ensuring compliance with legal requirements, filing tax returns, resolving disputes, and ensuring the smooth transfer of assets to heirs or beneficiaries.

TERMS TO KNOW

Probate

The legal process of administering a decedent’s

estate under state statute by resolving all claims

and distributing property and assets, according to a valid Will (a “testate” probate) or intestate (without a valid Will).

Personal Representative/Executor

A personal representative (also referred to as an

“executor”) is either named in the Will or appointed by the court to administer the decedent’s estate. Responsibilities may include meeting with family members, attorneys, and other interested persons to discuss the Will’s provisions, arranging for probate, inventorying and taking custody of assets, administering the estate, taking responsibility for final income tax returns and estate taxes, and distributing the estate.

Testator

A person who has written and executed a Last Will and Testament that is in effect at the time of his death.

Decedent

A person who has died and whose estate or trust needs to be administered according to that person’s Will or Trust or by intestate laws.

Heir

A person legally entitled to the property the estate of the decedent.

PROBATE & TRUST

ADMINISTRATION

Probate and trust administration are legal

services that help manage and distribute

a deceased person’s estate, ensuring their

assets are handled according to their will

or trust and relevant laws. Probate is the

court-supervised process of validating a will, settling debts, and distributing the decedent’s assets to beneficiaries. It involves filing necessary documents, notifying heirs and creditors, managing estate taxes, and Headline finalizing asset transfers. Trust administration, on the other hand, involves

Phone: 208.367.0723_______E-mail: [email protected]

Beneficiary

A person or other legal entity who is designated

to receive money or other benefits from another

source, such as a Will or a Trust.

Bequest

Gift made by Will.

Distribution

Delivery of cash or an asset to the beneficiary of the estate. It may be a partial or full distribution.

Inventory

Listing of all estate property owned by the decedent on the date of death.

Accounting

A report of all assets, debts, and property included in the estate.

Trustee

A trustee carries out the terms of a trust. A trustee

may be a relative, friend, lawyer, bank, accountant/ CPA, trust company, or other organization. In the case of a living trust (a trust which takes effect during the lifetime of the settlor), the settlor may be the initial trustee.

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