Probate and Estate Administration
DocketHire is a probate and estate administration support staffing company for law firms, where the work is a sequence of statutory clocks that start on different events in every state and cannot be restarted once they run.
What Probate and Estate Administration support looks like
Use this page to understand the scope, workflows, and rollout expectations before you decide whether this is the right staffing lane for your firm.
Probate administration is not estate planning with a death certificate attached. Planning is document work a firm schedules on its own calendar. Administration is court-supervised process work on a calendar the statute sets, and the two practices share almost nothing operationally except the client family. Firms that treat administration as an extension of their drafting practice discover the difference the first time a creditor claim period closes on a claim nobody logged.
The defining feature of the practice is that the clocks start on different events. In California, the inventory and appraisal is due within four months after letters are first issued to a general personal representative under Probate Code section 8800(b), and a creditor's claim is due under section 9100(a) on the later of four months after letters first issue or 60 days after notice of administration is mailed or personally delivered to that creditor. In Texas, Estates Code section 308.051 requires published notice to creditors within one month after receiving letters, and section 309.051 sets 90 days for the inventory, appraisement, and list of claims. In Florida, Probate Rule 5.340(a) sets 60 days after issuance of letters for the inventory, while section 733.702 measures the creditor claim window from first publication and section 733.710 imposes a two year outer bar running from the date of death itself.
Read those together and the operational problem is obvious. Four different trigger events appear in three states: issuance of letters, first publication, service on a named creditor, and death. A firm administering estates in more than one state cannot run them off a single calendar template, and a firm administering them in one state still needs a person who knows which event started which clock on which file. That is a records and calendaring function, and it is the function most probate practices staff last.
The federal layer sits on top and moves independently. Form 706 is due nine months after the date of death, with an automatic six month extension available to any estate that files Form 4768 on or before that due date, including an estate filing solely to elect portability. For 2026 decedents the basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000, up from $13,990,000 for 2025, which means the overwhelming majority of estates will never owe federal estate tax. It does not mean the federal file is empty. The estate still needs an EIN, the fiduciary still files Form 56, a final Form 1040 is still due, Form 1041 still applies once the estate has filing-level income, and a surviving spouse's portability election still has to be made or knowingly declined.
This page is for probate boutiques, trusts and estates departments, and general practice firms with an administration book who are deciding what to hand off. The usual first handoff is the deadline and notice calendar, because it is the lane with no cure for failure, followed by the asset inventory and date-of-death valuation file, followed by accountings and distribution packets. Legal judgment stays with your attorneys: whether to open administration and in what form, how to construe a will, whether a creditor claim is valid and should be allowed or rejected, how to resolve a contest, and every piece of advice to a personal representative or a beneficiary. Support staff make the file complete and the calendar honest so those decisions get made on time and on facts.
What the right support company should already understand
This is the operational lens law-firm buyers should use when comparing generic VA vendors against legal support built for practice-specific throughput.
They can name the trigger event for each deadline, not just the number of days
Ask a partner when the creditor claim period closes on a specific open file. A firm running this practice well answers with the event and the date: first publication ran on this day, so the window closes on that day. A firm running it badly answers with a rule of thumb. The number of days is the easy half. Knowing which event started the count, and having the proof of that event in the file, is the half that gets missed.
Publication is scheduled work with a confirmation on file
Notice to creditors runs through a newspaper, which means an external vendor sits inside a statutory deadline. Texas requires publication within one month after letters issue. Florida requires it once a week for two consecutive weeks. A firm that treats the publication order as a task someone remembers, rather than as a calendared item with an affidavit of publication filed back into the matter, is one busy month away from a problem.
There is a date-of-death valuation file, not a spreadsheet assembled at distribution
Values are determined as of the date of death, and the institutions that can confirm them get slower and less cooperative as time passes. Firms that request date-of-death statements, appraisals, and account balances in the first weeks have a file. Firms that reconstruct values months later have an argument with a bank.
Portability gets a decision on every estate, not only taxable ones
With a $15,000,000 exclusion for 2026 decedents, almost no estate is taxable, and that is exactly why portability elections get skipped. Revenue Procedure 2022-32 provides a simplified route to make a late election on or before the fifth anniversary of death for estates below the filing threshold, which is generous and still finite. A firm with a written yes or no on this for every married decedent is running the practice deliberately.
The scope line is written down and reflects unauthorized practice limits
Staff should gather, request, index, calendar, track, reconcile, and prepare for attorney review. Deciding whether to open probate, choosing the form of administration, construing a will, allowing or rejecting a claim, and advising a personal representative or beneficiary belong to your attorneys. A credible staffing partner states this before you ask and declines work that crosses it.
Typical workflow coverage
Typical workflows DocketHire can support for firms hiring probate and estate administration coverage.
Statutory deadline calendars built from the actual trigger event on each matter
Certified death certificate ordering and tracking across counties and states
Petition, letters, and oath packet preparation for attorney review and filing
Notice to creditors publication ordering, proof of publication tracking, and affidavit filing
Notice of administration service lists, mailing logs, and proof of service assembly
Known and reasonably ascertainable creditor identification research from decedent records
Creditor claim intake, logging, categorization, and claim-window tracking per claimant
Asset inventory building from financial statements, deeds, titles, and account records
Date-of-death valuation requests to banks, brokerages, transfer agents, and appraisers
Inventory and appraisal preparation for attorney review under the applicable state deadline
EIN application preparation on Form SS-4 and Form 56 fiduciary notice preparation
Estate tax and fiduciary income tax document packet assembly for the firm's tax preparer
Form 706 and Form 4768 supporting documentation collection and deadline tracking
Estate accounting preparation, receipt and disbursement reconciliation, and schedule assembly
Beneficiary correspondence, status updates, and distribution receipt tracking
Real property transfer document coordination, recording tracking, and title company liaison
Case management system hygiene, deadline field maintenance, and matter aging reports
Where support actually plugs into the case lifecycle
Use these lanes to decide which repeatable PI workflows should move off attorney calendars first.
Deadline and notice operations
This lane is first because it is the only one with no cure. Every deadline gets built from a proven event rather than an estimate: the date letters actually issued, the date publication actually first ran, the date notice was actually served on a specific creditor. The proof of each event goes in the file next to the date. Publication is ordered as a calendared task with the affidavit tracked back in, and the service list for notice of administration is maintained as creditors and interested persons are identified rather than assembled once at the start.
Asset inventory and date-of-death valuation
Own the inventory end to end: build the asset list from statements, deeds, titles, tax returns, and correspondence found in the decedent's records, then request date-of-death values from every institution and appraiser in the first weeks rather than the last. Track each request to a response, escalate the ones that stall, and hand the attorney a schedule that is complete on the day the inventory is due. California allows four months after letters first issue, Florida sets 60 days after issuance of letters by rule, and Texas sets 90 days, so the same lane runs at three different speeds depending on where the matter sits.
Creditor claims and the claim window
Log every claim on receipt with the claimant, the amount, the date received, and the window that applies to that specific claimant, because the window is claimant-specific once notice has been served individually. Maintain the aging report so the attorney sees which claims are inside the period, which are outside it, and which are approaching a decision date. The attorney decides whether a claim is allowed or rejected and signs whatever follows. Staff make sure no claim is discovered after the decision could still have been made.
Tax file, accounting, and closing
Open the federal file early: EIN application, Form 56 fiduciary notice once the EIN is in hand, and a running document packet for the firm's tax preparer covering the final Form 1040, any Form 1041 years, and Form 706 if it is in play for tax or for portability. Alongside it, keep the estate accounting current as receipts and disbursements happen rather than rebuilding it at closing, reconcile it to the estate account statements, and assemble the distribution receipts and closing packet for attorney review.
Metrics worth tracking from week one
The point is not vague support. It is measurable throughput that protects case value and signed-case conversion.
Deadline sets built from proven trigger events
100 percent of open matters with every statutory deadline calendared and the triggering document in the file
A deadline calculated from an assumed date is not a deadline, it is a guess with a reminder attached. The trigger document is the only thing that makes the date defensible later.
Publication ordered and proof filed
Ordered inside the statutory window on every matter and the affidavit of publication back in the file within the firm's set interval
Texas requires notice within one month after letters issue. The publication runs through an outside vendor, so this is the deadline most exposed to somebody else's schedule.
Inventory filed inside the statutory window
Filed within the applicable state deadline, or an extension requested before it runs
California allows four months after letters first issue, Florida 60 days after issuance of letters, Texas 90 days. Missing it is visible to the court and to every beneficiary who is watching the file.
Date-of-death valuations obtained
Requested for every asset within the firm's set interval after letters issue, with each request tracked to a response
Institutions answer date-of-death requests faster and more completely when the death is recent. Valuation is the single most common reason an otherwise ready inventory sits unfiled.
Creditor claims logged and aged
Logged within one business day of receipt with the claimant-specific window recorded
Under California Probate Code section 9100(a) the window is the later of four months after letters or 60 days after notice to that creditor, so two claimants on the same estate can have different deadlines.
Portability decision recorded
A written elect or decline on every married decedent's file, dated and attorney-approved
With a $15,000,000 exclusion for 2026 decedents, portability is the federal issue most likely to be skipped by default rather than decided. Revenue Procedure 2022-32 gives eligible estates until the fifth anniversary of death, which is generous and still runs out.
Build the right support stack for this workflow
Start with the bottleneck hurting conversion or case throughput most, then expand into the adjacent workflows that keep handoffs clean.
Deadline and notice bundle
Best for firms where probate deadlines live in individual attorney calendars, publication gets ordered when someone remembers, and nobody can produce the trigger document behind a date on request.
Inventory and valuation bundle
Best for firms where attorneys or paralegals are personally chasing banks and brokerages for date-of-death statements, and inventories sit unfiled waiting on two outstanding values.
Accounting and beneficiary bundle
Best for firms rebuilding estate accountings at closing from a year of bank statements, and fielding beneficiary status calls that nobody has time to return.
Tools and platforms
DocketHire teams can plug into the legal software and communication stack your firm already uses.
How it works
A simple rollout path for getting probate and estate administration support live without slowing down your firm.
Map Your Clocks and Your Jurisdictions
Tell us which states you administer in, how deadlines get calendared today and by whom, who orders publication, where creditor claims land when they arrive, and which deadline you have come closest to missing. That conversation sets the scope line and the calendar model before anyone touches a file.
Staff the Calendar and the File
We match your firm with support staff trained on probate deadline structures, notice and publication workflows, asset inventory and valuation gathering, and accounting preparation, then train them on your case management system, your jurisdictions, and your written scope boundary.
Report on Position, Not Activity
Your team works from documented workflows and reports the numbers that decide outcomes: matters with a complete deadline set built from proven trigger events, publication confirmed, inventories filed inside the statutory window, valuations obtained, claims logged and aged, and accountings reconciled.
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers firms usually want before they book probate and estate administration support.
What can a probate administration virtual assistant handle for a law firm?
A probate support assistant can build statutory deadline calendars from the actual trigger documents, order certified death certificates, prepare petition and letters packets for attorney review, order notice to creditors publication and track the affidavit back into the file, maintain notice service lists and proof of service, log and age creditor claims, build the asset inventory, request date-of-death valuations and chase them to a response, prepare the inventory and appraisal for attorney review, prepare Form SS-4 and Form 56, assemble tax document packets for the firm's preparer, keep the estate accounting current and reconciled, track distribution receipts, and coordinate real property transfer recording. Deciding whether to open probate, choosing the form of administration, construing a will, allowing or rejecting a creditor claim, and advising a personal representative or beneficiary stay with your attorneys.
How is probate administration support different from estate planning support?
Estate planning is document production on a calendar the firm controls. Probate administration is court-supervised process work on a calendar the statute controls, with deadlines that start on external events and cannot be restarted. The skills barely overlap. A strong estate planning assistant is good at templates, client questionnaires, and signing logistics. A strong probate administration assistant is good at deadline structures, institutional records chasing, claim tracking, and reconciliation. Firms that staff administration with their planning support and expect it to work are the ones that call about a missed publication.
What probate deadlines does a support function need to track?
The set varies by state and by the form of administration, which is why it has to be built per matter rather than from a template. Common examples: California Probate Code section 8800(b) sets the inventory and appraisal at four months after letters are first issued, and section 9100(a) sets a creditor's claim at the later of four months after letters first issue or 60 days after notice of administration is mailed or personally delivered to that creditor. Texas Estates Code section 308.051 requires published notice to creditors within one month after receiving letters, and section 309.051 sets 90 days for the inventory, appraisement, and list of claims. Florida Probate Rule 5.340(a) sets the inventory at 60 days after issuance of letters, section 733.702 measures claims from first publication or service, and section 733.710 imposes a two year bar running from the date of death. Federal Form 706 is due nine months after death. Always confirm the current rule for your jurisdiction and the specific proceeding, and treat the trigger event as the thing to prove, not assume.
Can support staff decide whether a creditor claim should be paid?
No. Allowing or rejecting a claim is a legal determination with consequences for the personal representative, and it belongs to the attorney. What staff can and should own is everything around that decision: logging the claim the day it arrives, recording the claimant-specific window, indexing the supporting documentation, maintaining the aging report so the attorney sees decisions coming rather than passing, and preparing whatever notice follows for attorney review and signature. The failure mode this prevents is not a wrong decision, it is a decision that was never made because nobody surfaced the claim in time.
Does the higher estate tax exclusion mean the federal file no longer matters?
It means far fewer estates owe tax, not that the federal work disappeared. For 2026 decedents the basic exclusion amount is $15,000,000, up from $13,990,000 for 2025. The estate still needs an EIN, the fiduciary still files Form 56 once the EIN is available, the decedent's final Form 1040 is still due at the time it would have been due, and Form 1041 applies for estate income years. For a married decedent the portability election is the live issue, and it is the one most likely to be skipped precisely because no tax is owed. Revenue Procedure 2022-32 provides a simplified method for eligible estates below the filing threshold to make a late election on or before the fifth anniversary of the date of death.
How do support staff help with the inventory and date-of-death valuations?
By starting early and tracking every request to a response. Staff build the asset list from the decedent's statements, deeds, titles, prior tax returns, and correspondence, then send date-of-death value requests to each bank, brokerage, transfer agent, retirement plan administrator, and appraiser, and follow up on a set cadence rather than waiting. Each request is logged with the date sent, the institution, the asset, and the status. The attorney reviews the completed schedule and signs. Inventories that miss a statutory deadline usually miss it waiting on two outstanding values that were requested late, which is a workflow problem rather than a legal one.
When should a probate practice add administration support staff?
Two reliable signals. The first is an attorney personally calling a bank about a date-of-death balance, which is capacity spent on a task with no legal content and a long hold time. The second is any deadline that was met by luck rather than by calendar, including one somebody caught late and fixed. Both mean the process function has outgrown being everybody's side job. The most useful first lane is almost always deadline and notice operations, because it is the one where failure has no remedy and because a clean calendar makes every other lane visible.
Is this legal advice about probate deadlines in my state?
No. The statutes and rules cited here are current primary sources linked so you can read them yourself, but probate deadlines vary by state, by county practice, by the form of administration, and by facts specific to a matter, and they change. Nothing here is legal advice and DocketHire does not provide it. Your attorneys determine what applies to a given estate. Our staff build the calendar your attorneys specify, prove each date against the document that triggered it, and keep the file complete.
Get virtual assistant support for Probate and Estate Administration
Get started with a qualified legal virtual assistant today.