An Executor’s Checklist for Personal Property

Three habits cover most of an executor’s job with personal property. Photograph before anything moves. Keep a written log of where each group of items went. Do not let anything leave until someone has considered what it is worth. Those habits protect you as much as they protect the estate.

This is general information about a common process, not legal advice for your estate. Ask the attorney who knows the will or the filing what your authority covers before you act on any step below.

Before anything is touched

• Photograph each room from two or three angles, closets and drawers included
• Find the will, any letters testamentary, and any earlier inventory
• Ask the estate’s attorney what you are authorized to do right now
• List everyone with a legal interest in the property, co-heirs included

While the contents are reviewed

The log does not need to be fancy. One dated line per item or group, saying what left and who took it, answers the question a sibling asks eight months from now.

• Log each item that leaves the estate and the date it went
• Tag anything a beneficiary asks for, with that person’s name
• Flag jewelry, coins, art, and firearms for a closer look
• Hold all donations and trash runs until the review is done

Items with their own rules

Some things need more than a line in the inventory. Firearms come with transfer rules. Vehicles need title work. A Rolex in a desk drawer or a set of sterling flatware in its chest deserves a price from someone who knows that category, not a guess across the room. A safe deposit box or a storage unit gets its own visit and its own log.

Keep a record you can hand over

Whatever route the estate takes, a single purchase, a public sale, or an auction, write down the scope. Note what was included, what was held back, and roughly when it happened. That page is how you account for the estate later, to co-heirs, to the court, or to yourself a year on.

Where this list stops

Questions about authority, deadlines, and what the court expects belong with the estate’s attorney. Use this list to keep the estate organized while those answers come from the right person.