Covering the Costs

Covering the Costs of The Work

Legal work is expensive – there’s no way around it, unfortunately. But when you’re settling an estate, there are a few bits of good news:

1. Reimbursement for Personal Expenditures. Any expenditures you make for legitimate estate administration expenses can be reimbursed right away from the estate assets once they become available. It’s important to note that not every expenditure is a legitimate estate administration expense, and that family member should not be encouraged to make expenditures in anticipation of reimbursement.

   But legitimate expenditures include costs of the funeral or memorial ceremony, costs of burial or cremation, legal fees, and payment of the decedent’s own legal obligations, such as rent, mortgage, or utility bills, if necessary.

2. Inheritance Loans / Advances. You may have heard of companies that will pay you an advance on the inheritance that you anticipate from the estate. We strongly discourage our clients from using this type of financing. It is extremely expensive and, in our view, predatory, in a manner similar to payday loans. It can also significantly complicate the distribution of the estate, increase the liability of the executor/administrator, and disturb the distribution of estate assets. It also adds an additional, potentially contentious, party to the proceedings, since the provider becomes a creditor of the estate. It is this firm’s policy not to deal with providers of inheritance advances and not to assist clients in arranging such advances.