Chapter 7

Marshalling and Liquidating Assets

IN THIS CHAPTER

check Figuring out what the decedent owned

check Taking stock of the big-ticket possessions and other assets

check Keeping tabs on the household items and getting property appraised

check Checking for employee benefits, insurance policies, and miscellaneous death benefits

check Taking a probate inventory and selling what needs to be sold

Marshalling the assets brings to mind wonderful pictures of bank accounts, cars, houses, and the beautiful barometer on the wall all standing in an orderly line, just waiting for you to acknowledge and count them. As the executor of an estate, your first job is to marshal the assets — to determine what exactly the decedent owned on the day that he or she died. In this chapter, we discuss step by step the best ways to search for each type of asset. Your ease in finding all the assets depends, to some degree, on how well you knew the decedent (for the more obvious assets) and on the decedent’s state of mind at the time ...

Get Estate & Trust Administration For Dummies, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.