If you are in charge of executing someone’s estate, you may be worried about how long probate is taking. What’s more, you might feel that the beneficiaries are breathing down your neck, impatient to get their inheritance.
There is only so much you can do, and the beneficiaries need to understand that probate is not an overnight process. You can help by maintaining contact with them and trying to explain how the process works, rather than just shutting yourself away in a room full of paperwork and taking the phone off the hook to avoid disturbances.
Going slowly reduces the chance of mistakes
Think about some other detailed tasks you have accomplished. You probably learned the hard way at some point that taking more care worked out faster in the end. Mistakes are more likely to happen when you rush through things, and they can waste a lot of time.
Working with others can also speed things up
While you might be the named executor, teamwork can be invaluable. Relatives may be keen to help, and while you might want them to just let you get on with it, giving them some tasks to complete can save you a lot of legwork. It can also help them feel involved and reduce the chance of suspicion that you are somehow self-dealing.
Another wise option is to seek legal help. There is so much to learn that hiring someone who already understands relevant laws (that you will probably never need to reference again) is wise if you want to make probate as efficient as possible.
