as noted in locked posts, i'm managing the estate of a friend who died recently. i have a lot of big feelings around that, but it's also a process that people have to go through and we don't really talk about it. so i'm going to try to put some of this out where people can see it, share if you feel so moved. i'm in the US in Washington state, so some things won't be universal.

in the US, part of managing the estate is creating an EIN, essentially an imaginary person called Estate of $walletname who can then have a bank account and own things and write checks. i play Estate of $walletname for business purposes.

probate is the period of time when the estate is being settled. in WA you need to make a public announcement of the death and give creditors four months to ask to get paid. after the debts are taken care of, then you can actually distribute the remaining money/assets. if life insurance and retirement accounts have beneficiaries listed, they skip probate and get paid out directly, they aren't subject to debt claims on the estate.

other than the funeral, nothing much can happen until you have a death certificate, and that can take more than two weeks. then you have to get the state to sign off on your status as personal representative. after you have the death cert + letters testamentary, it's actually go time. it was a month from the actual death to me having all the docs.

what i do as personal representative:

• find and gather up all of her assets - bank accounts, insurance, retirement, brokerage, her possessions

• get everything transferred from her name to Estate of $walletname

• pay debts

• inventory all the things

• inform all the things! help life insurance and accounts with beneficiaries to contact the beneficiaries

• distribute stuff per the will

• do her final tax return

( cut for length and some talking about death stuff )