An Inventory is a list of all property owned by the person who died and the value of each item of property at the time of the person's death. The Personal Representative must prepare this list within three months of the date of his or her appointment.
You can file:
Inventory of Property, P-370
For each item of property owned by the person who died, you must include the following:
It is also helpful if you do the following:
If you hired a professional appraiser to value any property, you must list the appraiser's name and address next to the item that was appraised.
You must send a copy to any interested person who asks for it.
You must use the fair market value for each item of estate property. This means the reasonable price that an unrelated person would pay for the property in its "as is" condition at the date of the person's death. You can hire a professional appraiser to help you decide what something is worth.
Below are guidelines to help you decide on a value for common types of property:
Type of Property |
Ways to Value |
|---|---|
| Real property |
|
Vehicles (cars, boats, trailers, ATVs) |
|
Personal effects |
|
Household furnishings |
|
Valuable personal property (paintings, furs, jewelry, firearms, antiques, collections) |
|
Bank accounts, investment accounts, retirement accounts, 401k plans, annuities |
|
Pension plans |
|
Life insurance |
|
Business interests |
|
There are many other types of property and some can be hard to value. You should talk to a probate lawyer if you have questions about how to value property.
You must send a copy to any interested person who asks for it. You can also file the original with the court.
It can be hard to find all of the property owned by the person who died. Below are helpful steps that you can take:
You must gather the property owned by the person who died by taking possession or control of it. However, you can leave the property with the person who is supposed to receive it if you do not need it for the probate. You must carefully manage and protect all estate property for the benefit of interested persons, including creditors, beneficiaries and heirs.
For more information on how to manage the most common types of property, see:
You will need to close the bank accounts and investment accounts owned by the person who died. You must also collect all cash benefits from life insurance policies and other sources if they are payable to the estate. It is a good idea to open an estate checking account to combine all of these funds in one place. It is also easier to prepare an Accounting if you pay claims and probate expenses from a single account.
*Important: Do not deposit anything into the estate bank account other than estate property. Use the account only for probate purposes. You must keep all estate funds separate from your own personal funds.
If the estate has a large amount of money, you can also open an estate savings account or an estate investment account. You can choose to keep the person's investment accounts with the same brokerage company but you will need to change the owner of the accounts to the estate.
When you open any new estate account, you will need a certified copy of the Letters and the estate EIN. You should never use the social security number of the person who died or your own social security number to identify an estate account.
The Personal Representative should do the following things, when appropriate:
In most cases, you can leave title to real property in the name of the person who died until you are ready to transfer it to the right persons. For more information on changing the title of real property, see Transferring Assets.
The Personal Representative should do the following things, when appropriate:
In most cases, you can leave title to personal property (if any) in the name of the person who died until you are ready to transfer it to the right persons. You can also leave personal property with the real property or with the rightful heir or beneficiary, if convenient. For more information on changing the title of personal property, see Transferring Assets.
Yes, if the property has so little value that it does not benefit the estate. For example, you can give away or throw out old furniture, clothing or household items in poor shape. But you can only donate valuable items to charity, such as expensive paintings or jewelry, if the person who died pledged to do this in writing before his or her death.
If you find new property or need to change something on the original Inventory, you must prepare a "supplementary inventory." You must send the supplementary inventory to those persons who received the original Inventory and file it with the court if you filed the original with the court.
For information on when and how to transfer property to beneficiaries or heirs, see Distribution of Estate Assets and Transferring Assets.
You can learn more about the:
| Rev. 28 July 2014 © Alaska Court System www.courts.alaska.gov Contact Us |
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