Common executor situations

The questions that bring people to ExecutorHome at 2am. Plain-language guidance for the moments when the procedural map doesn’t quite fit what you’re actually facing.

• I can't find the willFirst: it's more common than you think, and it's almost never the end of the world.
• I live in a different state than the deceasedYou can almost always serve as executor of a parent's estate from another state.
• There's no will. What now?About one in three Americans dies without a will.
• My siblings and I disagreeAlmost every executor we've talked to has run into a sibling who is angry, withdrawn, or absent — sometimes all three.
• Do small estates need probate?Probate is procedural overhead.