In Aberdeen, South Dakota, probate is a legal procedure that a court must go through before giving effect to a will. Before putting a will into effect, a court has to decide that it is legitimate.

As part of this procedure, the Aberdeen, South Dakota probate court will decide the validity of the will, inventory the decedent's assets and debts, and then, lastly, distribute the estate according to the will, assuming it is deemed to be valid.

Usually, the executor of the estate is named in the will. However, if nobody is named as an executor, the probate court in Aberdeen, South Dakota will assign an administrator to serve the role as the executor. This is usually the closest adult relative of the decedent, or the person who stands to inherit the most.

Because the executor is responsible for actually initiating probate proceedings and seeing them to finalization, the person chosen for this role is often the one who stands to inherit the most from the will - giving them an incentive to put in the necessary time and effort.

Duties of the Executor in Aberdeen, South Dakota

Executors of estates have a several distinct responsibilities. First, the executor must start the probate proceedings. Probate almost always needs to be finalized before the property in an estate can be released according to the terms of the will.

The executor also has to provide those with a direct interest in the will notice that the decedent has deceased, by filing an official death certificate.

Because people who stand to inherit from the testator may be scattered around the country, or even the world, contacting them is sometimes challenging. One of the responsibilities of the executor is to compile a list of everyone who is entitled to inherit from the decedent, so attempts to contact them can be made. They also have to account for all the testator's debts and assets.

Because the executor serves as the living representation of the decedent's estate, they are solely accountable for proving the validity of the will. This is a lot of work, but because executors are usually chosen based on how much they stand to inherit from a will once its validity is confirmed, they have a good incentive to see the process to finalization.

How Can A Aberdeen, South Dakota Lawyer Help?

Because this process can be fairly perplexing, it is not a bad idea to consult with a reputable probate lawyer in Aberdeen, South Dakota, especially if you find yourself as the executor of an estate and don't know how to proceed.