When someone dies, a personal representative — an executor named in the will or an administrator appointed by the court — steps in to gather the estate, pay its debts and taxes, and pass what remains to those entitled. It is a fiduciary role carrying genuine personal risk: get the timing, the payments or the recipients wrong, and the PR can be liable from their own pocket. Knowing the duties, the powers and the protections is at the heart of advising in estate administration.
What this lesson covers:
- Personal Representatives and Their Authority — who PRs are, where their authority comes from, and the trap of the executor de son tort.
- Fiduciary and Administrative Duties — the self-dealing and fair-dealing rules, impartiality, remuneration, and what counts as a devastavit.
- Delegation — what a PR can hand to an agent, the safeguards required, and the duties that must stay personal.
- Payment of Debts and Timing of Distribution — the order debts are paid, charged assets, the executor's year, and distributing too soon.
- Protection Against Claims — statutory advertisements and Benjamin Orders against unknown or missing claimants.
- Liability and Relief — recovering overpayments, the test for excusing a PR, and co-executor liability.
- Statutory Powers — appropriation, maintenance and advancement.
- Tax, Removal and Discharge — IHT, CGT and income tax duties, and removing a PR.