Who you are · Personal Representatives
You Are Personally Accountable
A personal representative is personally accountable for the estate's property. That is the whole reason this service exists.
No fee to talk it through, and no client details needed to start. If the timing is urgent, call rather than email.
Witnessed
Inventory signed by two attendants and by you
Named
Access limited to individuals you name in writing
1983
Operating on the Galt Ocean Mile since
Honoured
Valid legal process, and we publish that
The exposure is yours, individually
If property goes missing, is damaged, or is simply disputed, the questions land on you. Not on the estate abstractly — on you. And the ordinary arrangement, where estate valuables sit at your house for a year, puts you in personal custody of assets other people have an interest in.
What protects you
- An early, dated, witnessed inventory made before anything moved.
- Property held in the estate's name rather than yours.
- A record of who accessed it and when.
- Signed receipts on every release.
- Beneficiaries able to see the same record you can.
The job nobody trained you for
Almost every personal representative is doing it for the first time, was chosen because they were trusted rather than because they were qualified, and is grieving while they do it. That is the actual context, and it explains most of what goes wrong. The role carries real duties — to inventory, to safeguard, to account — and those duties attach to you personally from the moment you are appointed, whether or not anyone has explained them.
The specific problem property creates is that safeguarding is easier to describe than to do. Tangible assets sit in a house that may be empty, insured under a policy written for someone who no longer lives there, and known about by several family members who all have opinions and some of whom have keys. Moving that property into documented custody, with an inventory taken at intake, converts an open-ended personal exposure into a recorded one. That record is what protects you later, far more than the vault door does.
How we handle it
- 01Confirm your appointment and act only on it.
- 02Inventory in the house with you present and witnessing.
- 03Hold in the estate's name, with access you control.
- 04Provide the record to beneficiaries where you choose to.
- 05Signed receipts on release, closing the record.
Share the inventory with the beneficiaries early. Representatives often hesitate, worrying it invites scrutiny. In practice it does the opposite — transparency at the start prevents most of the suspicion that develops in an information vacuum.
Said plainly
Where we stop
We do not advise on your duties. Whether to sell, distribute, or hold is a matter for you and your attorney. We hold the property and document it.
Common questions
- Am I personally liable?
- A personal representative carries real personal accountability for estate property. Your attorney can explain the extent for your situation.
- Should I keep valuables at my house?
- It is common and it is a poor arrangement — uninsured for that purpose, and it places you in personal custody of contested assets.
- Should beneficiaries see the inventory?
- Usually yes. Transparency early prevents most disputes later.
- When should I do this?
- As early as possible, ideally before the extended family has been through the house.
What we do
Securing Estate Contents
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Witnessed Inventory
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Custody Through Probate
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Bank Box Transfer
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Contested Estates
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Release & Distribution
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Tell us what needs to move.
What, from where, and roughly when. You do not need an inventory to start the conversation, and if the job belongs with an armored carrier we will say so on the call.