Steps to Become a Personal Representative of an Estate Understand Your Priority for Appointment. Determine the Proper Probate Court. Research the County's Filing Requirements. File the Petition for Administration. Notice of Petition to Administer Estate. File a Bond. Attend the Probate Hearing.
New York State laws have created a framework for passing on property when someone dies intestate. Instead of a probate proceeding, the closest living relative of the decedent (the person who died) will have to file for estate administration. This generally falls to the spouse, children, parents, or siblings.
You'll have to file a request in the county where the deceased person lived at the time of their death. The paperwork will ask for you to be officially acknowledged as the legal executor representing the estate. In addition to the petition, you'll need to file a valid will, if one exists, and the death certificate.
You can't get a power of attorney. A POA ends at death. You need to take the will, the death certificate and your birth certificate down to your local probate court and open probate. The requirements vary by state and there may be a small estate process available.
If you weren't named executor in a will, you'd need to file a Letter of Administration with your state's probate court. The court will ask questions about you and your relationship with the deceased. The court will either appoint you as executor or appoint someone else.
A Power of Attorney is a document that grants another person permission to act on their behalf, during life, thus when that individual passes away, the document is null and void.
In some states, there is a time limit to applying for probate (for example, the filing of all the necessary paperwork must begin ten days after the date of death). However, if you're in New York, there's no designated timeline for filing a request to validate the will with the probate court.
The court will look to appoint the next of kin in the following order: Surviving spouse. Children. Grandchildren. Father or mother. Brothers or sisters.
Each state has its own set of laws governing the probate process. For example, in California, probate must be filed within 30 days of discovering the will, while in Texas, executors have up to four years to file.
That interested person must petition the probate court to appoint them as the estate administrator. Once the probate court process is complete, the court-appointed representative is known as the "personal representative" of the estate.