Being appointed to serve as the executor of an estate is no easy task.



The first step in the estate settlement process is to locate all of the decedent's estate planning documents and other important papers. Estate planning documents may include a Last Will and Testament, burial and/or memorial instructions, and/or a Revocable Living Trust. Other documents that should be located include bank and brokerage statements, stock and bond certificates, life insurance policies, corporate records, car and boat titles, deeds, and the decedent's prior three years of income tax returns.



The next step is to determine the value of the Decedents assets. The survivors all have different ideas as to how much they may have been left in the will or trust. Will they get that special item or how much what they were left is worth. When it comes to the home and automobiles short of selling them it