The administration of a deceased estate is a cloaked and murky process. As laypeople, we may hand over the task to an attorney or bank, wait a long time, see a sizeable fee deducted for executor’s remuneration, and never quite understand what happened in the intervening period. What do executors actually do, and why do even small estates take months (or even years!) to wind up? In this blog, we cover the 11 step process an executor follows to wind up a deceased estate.

Step 1: Meeting the family

The nominated executor will start off by meeting with the deceased’s loved ones to commence the process of winding up the estate.

Step 2: Reporting the estate

At this early stage, she will take possession of the deceased’s original will (if any) and assist the loved ones in completing the necessary documents to report the estate to the Master of the…