What is an Administration?
When someone dies, they leave behind all their worldly possessions. Those worldly possessions are left to the living to decipher what everything is in the decedent’s estate and where everything needs to go. This list can range from a variety of duties, including taking an inventory of the decedent’s property, managing bank accounts, paying creditors, paying taxes, distribute assets to beneficiaries, and setting family allowances. This is called an Administration of Estate. If the decedent died with a will and named a person in the will to administer his estate, that named representative is called an Executor. The Executor must distribute the assets according to the decedent’s will. If the decedent died intestate, meaning without a will, then the court can appoint an administrator to administer the estate. The administrator must distribute the property according to the court’s heirship rules. In either type of estate, the representative must go to the court to be appointed executor or administrator of the estate. After being appointed, the representative can now be given access to the decedent’s accounts and property for them to distribute to the beneficiaries and creditors. Thus, the administrating begins.
Independent Administration
There are two ways to administer an estate: independent and dependent. In an independent administration, the personal representative of the estate is awarded more freedom than an administrator of a dependent estate. The court does not have to be involved in every decision that the representative makes when handling the estate. Tex. Estates Code § 402.002 states that “any action that a personal representative subject to court supervision may take with or without a court order may be taken by an independent executor without a court order”. The personal representative in an independent administration is free to distribute the contents of the estate without much court supervision, so long as it is in accordance with the will or the law.
Dependent Administration
On the opposite end of the spectrum is the dependent administration. In a dependent administration, the court is involved in every decision the representative makes regarding the assets in the estate. It is a very strict process, and the probate court must approve every task the representative has to perform. The representative must post a bond that guarantees the representative will administer the estate according to law, submit annual inventory of the estate to the court, petition the court for permission to distribute assets or sell property, and submit a final report to the court summarizing how they distributed the estate.
Just like the independent administration, there are advantages and disadvantages to a dependent administration. The downside is that it is more costly and more time-consuming because everything must be approved by the court. The upside is that the personal representative is more protected because the court approves what is distributed. Instead of the representative being sued by a beneficiary, the party would have to go to a hearing with the court to have their issue resolved.