When am I done acting as Personal Representative / Trustee?

As a personal representative, once all matters are settled, a Personal Representative’s Statement to Close must be filed with the court. Final steps leading up to the statement are:

-Paying any outstanding debts;

-Filing the estate income taxes and receiving approval (a Closing Certificate) from the IRS;

-Distributing all assets to rightful beneficiaries; and

-Completing the sale of any property

If any matters need to be handled after the statement is filed, the personal representative would need to petition the court to reopen the probate. Generally the same steps apply for trust settlement; however there is no need to file a statement with the court. The trustee would not have to file any sort of petition to reopen a trust settlement because technically the trust is still “living” many years after distributions have been made and any property is sold.