What is estate administration?

When a person dies in almost every instance there is a process of estate administration which is used. Unless the estate is extremely small, probate will almost always be demanded by large financial institutions in order to release the funds of the person. If they had superannuation, the super fund manager will also often request this. The bulk of the burden for estate administration almost invariably falls on the executor and the advisors on probate administration services who they chose to appoint to assist them with the estate administration process. There are some services which provide estate administration as part of their services like the Public Trustee in New South Wales or there are some corporate trustees who also have these types of services built into their systems of administration.

Sometimes the broad term of estate administration is often confused with the process of getting letters of administration. Letter of administration are a specific legal term for the grant of probate given when a person dies intestate and their estate is large enough to warrant the appointment of an executor. The granting of letters of administration is a process where the court needs to become satisfied as to the circumstances surrounding the passing of the deceased person and come to a view of who is likely to be an appropriate executor of the estate. It is actually much more common than would often be thought that a person with substantial assets dies without a will and the remaining family must then apply for letters of administration in order to get the estate administered properly.

If you have inquiries about the process of estate administration or the legal aspects of intestacy and letters of administration, it is important to get to grips with these issues as quickly as possible so that the estate can be administered fairly and efficiently.