Estate
Does an Estate Need to File Form 706? 2026 Rules and Checklist
Determine whether an estate must file federal Form 706, should file for portability, or needs Form 706-NA, state returns, valuations, and deadline protection.
The Estate desk
Estate
Probate, executors, trusts, and the orderly transfer of what was built.
38 guides · page 2 of 2
Estate
How to Choose an Executor: A Practical Decision Guide
Evaluate an executor by workload, judgment, conflicts, location, continuity, and cost: then document successors and make the estate easier to administer.
Estate
How to Close an Estate: Accounting, Distribution, and Discharge
A source-grounded estate-closing checklist covering final accounting, claims, taxes, reserves, court approval, beneficiary receipts, discharge, and retained records.
Estate
Executor Fees and Estate Expenses: Keep Them Separate
Learn how to document executor compensation, distinguish reimbursable estate expenses, obtain required approval, and prepare for federal income-tax reporting.
Estate
Distributing Personal Possessions From an Estate Fairly
Use the will, a photographed inventory, appraisal evidence, a written selection method, and signed receipts to distribute meaningful estate possessions fairly.
Estate
Inherited Property in Another State: Will Ancillary Probate Be Needed?
How to verify title, determine whether another state's court process is required, coordinate counsel, protect the property, and plan a lawful sale or transfer.
Estate
Disclaiming an Inheritance: Rules, Deadlines, and Hidden Consequences
Before refusing an inheritance, understand the nine-month federal tax rule, state-law requirements, acceptance traps, successor beneficiaries, and IRA complications.
Estate
When a Will May Be Contested: Preserve Evidence and Deadlines
How an executor, widow, or potential contestant should preserve the original will, prior plans, witness evidence, communications, medical records, assets, and court deadlines.
Estate
Transfer-on-Death and Payable-on-Death Accounts: What Controls?
Verify TOD and POD ownership, primary and contingent beneficiaries, institution acceptance, trust coordination, taxes, creditor exposure, and post-death claim steps.
Estate
Date-of-Death Valuation: How to Value Estate Assets Correctly
Build a defensible valuation file for real estate, securities, businesses, vehicles, valuables, retirement accounts, and household property without confusing value and tax basis.
Estate
Updating Your Will After Your Spouse Dies: A Widow's Checklist
Review beneficiaries, executors, trusts, guardians, digital assets, powers of attorney, health directives, and account designations before signing a replacement will.
Estate
Communicating With Estate Beneficiaries Without Overpromising
Build a documented beneficiary communication plan that explains authority, milestones, delays, accountings, privacy limits, and distributions without making unsafe promises.
Estate
How to Update a Home's Title After a Spouse Dies
Verify the deed and transfer route, record the correct death or probate documents, and coordinate the mortgage, insurance, taxes, and estate records without changing title blindly.
Estate
The Living Trust Was Never Funded: What Happens Next?
Audit deeds, accounts, beneficiary forms, business interests, and the pour-over will to determine which assets reached the trust and which need probate or another transfer process.
Estate
Paying Estate Debts: Verify the Claim Before the Priority
A practical guide to separating personal liability from estate claims, verifying creditors, preserving deadlines, and paying debts in the order state law requires.
Estate
How to Open and Run an Estate Account Without Mixing Funds
Learn when an estate account is needed, which documents banks request, how the estate EIN works, and how a personal representative should keep an auditable ledger.
Estate
How to Build an Estate Inventory That Survives Scrutiny
Create an evidence-backed estate inventory covering ownership, date-of-death values, debts, transfer paths, and the records courts and tax advisers need.
Estate
Being Appointed Personal Representative: What Happens Next
Named executor in a will? Learn how court appointment works, what letters prove, and how to begin estate administration without mixing funds or missing duties.
Estate
Does This Estate Need Probate? An Asset-by-Asset Test
Probate depends on ownership, beneficiary designations, trust funding, state law, and available small-estate procedures, not simply the family's total wealth.