Estate administration begins at the death of the decedent, not when the court issues letters of authority. The person or institution nominated in the will or trust or who would qualify and have preference as an intestate administrator may take certain steps to protect the estate assets even before the court issues letters of authority. And if that person won't act, or acts improperly, the law provides that certain others may petition to protect the estate.

Once probate or intestate administration has been completed and letters of authority are issued, estate administration begins in earnest. During the course of an estate's administration, a personal representative performs four basic functions: (1) marshals assets; (2) determines and raises cash needs; (3) pays reasonable funeral expenses, debts, administration expenses and taxes; and (4) distributes assets in accordance with the terms of the decedent's will, trust agreement or, if the decedent dies without a will, the laws of intestate distribution.

While this may appear straightforward, there are a legion of deadlines, court and tax filing requirements, release documents and agreements, and many pitfalls that await the fiduciary. In the course of fulfilling his, her or its fiduciary duties, a personal representative may be faced with over 100 different elections or decisions. Every decision should be contemplated and made deliberately as each decision may have estate, gift, generation skipping or income tax consequences, may affect the rights of beneficiaries or may disrupt the testamentary intent of the decedent or cause friction with or between the beneficiaries.

But when the relationship between trustees and beneficiaries is troublesome, we have nearly two decades of experience working with beneficiaries and trustees to improve trustee responsiveness in administration and investment matters, redress any potential or actual breach of fiduciary duties, create a format for articulating and addressing beneficiaries' needs and concerns, resolve differences and ensure that the beneficiaries and trustees embrace a framework of reasonable cooperation that fulfills the trustee's duty of loyalty and meets the beneficiaries' needs within the context of the purpose of the trust.

And when the breakdown of communication is so severe or the breach of fiduciary duty so obvious, we bring to the table decades of trust litigation experience.

We are experienced with all types of trust and estate accountings, whether informal or formal, uncontested or litigated, and address each conflict with the goal of resolution using both alternative dispute resolution techniques and formal litigation in the Surrogate's Court or Supreme Court.