What Should Estate Executors Tell Creditors?

In Siedentopf Law’s latest video, estate planning and probate attorney Sarah Siedentopf talks about estate executors and their duties regarding creditors and estate debts.

Hi, I’m Sarah Siedentopf. I’m an estate planning and probate attorney in Atlanta, Georgia. Someone has passed away and you are named as the executor of the estate. What is it that you tell creditors?

As the executor, it is your job to gather together the debts and make sure that they get paid if there is enough money in the estate for that. So, if you are the executor of the estate, you can tell creditors orally or you can send them a letter but let them know that the person has died and that you will be handling the estate and give them an address to send a final bill to.

Eventually, of course, you will be in charge of actually putting out a notice for creditors, so that anyone that you don’t know about has a chance to send a bill in. But if you are the executor of the estate, it is your duty to talk to the creditors and find out what debts the estate owes, even if you’re not ready to pay them yet, because you will need to gather in all the debts to make sure everything can be paid before you start paying creditors. So, if you are the executor you need to talk to the creditors and let them know what’s going on. Thanks.

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