How To Administer An Estate

Here’s a simple breakdown of the duties of an executor or administrator…

1. IDENTIFY AND SECURE THE ASSETS

Meet with those closest to the person who died – both personally and professionally – in order to get a comprehensive overview of the deceased’s assets and liabilities.

Where the deceased had his Will prepared by ExeQtrust and maintained an updated EQ Box with title documents to all his assets, this first stage in administering his/her estate is tremendously simpler to perform.

2. NOTIFY ALL RELEVANT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS OF THE DECEASED’S DEATH

3. Apply for the Grant of Representation

With a Will

When you die with a will, it’s called being “testate”, which basically means you’ve passed leaving valid instructions on what to do with all your assets. The process that follows is fairly straightforward.

The executor applies to the Probate Registry of the Supreme Court for a Grant of Probate, which confirms that the named executor is certified to administer the estate, including the legal transfer of assets, to your named beneficiaries.

Without a Will

When you die without a will, it’s called being “intestate”. As there is no Will to follow with clear instructions from the deceased, the legal process—which is called applying for a Grant of Letters of Administration—is more involved and often takes longer than probate.

The first step is filing an application to the Probate Registry of the Supreme Court. This is usually done by the next of kin, who then becomes the administrator of the estate, fulfilling all the same duties of an executor.

In Trinidad and Tobago, only a practising attorney can apply for the Grant of Representation on behalf of the executor or administrator. EQ’s principal attorney has years of experience in this area.

4. DISTRIBUTE THE ASSETS

Once filed, the turnaround time to receive the Grants of Representation can be anywhere from six months to eighteen months or more, depending on the workload in the probate section of the Supreme Court.

If there’s a Will, as executor you must locate the beneficiaries and transfer the assets that were left to them.

If there’s no Will, you still have to identify the next of kin and potential beneficiaries, following the hierarchy laid out in the Administration of Estates Act.

If the beneficiaries are minors, or the assets can only be distributed on a certain date, the executor/administrator and trustee (where one is appointed under a Will) retain responsibility for those assets until they can be transferred.

Once the deceased’s assets include financial accounts and/or insurance policies with NO joint holder or named beneficiary, vehicles or land/property with NO joint owners, the named executor/administrator, has to produce the original Grant of Representation AND show up in person to sign off on the transfer to the beneficiaries.

EQ’s Estate Protection and Enforcement and Probate and Estate Administration services can not only relieve executors and administrators of such tedious requirements, but can also prepare and file the documents required to transfer ownership of the deceased’s assets.