Practical
What to Do Before Anyone Has Authority
The most exposed period in any estate, and the one where the cheapest actions do the most good.
No fee to talk it through, and no client details needed to start. If the timing is urgent, call rather than email.
Do these now
None of this requires authority, a lawyer, or money. All of it is worth more than anything you can do later.
- Secure the property. If keys are unaccounted for, change the locks.
- Photograph every room as it is, dated, before anything is moved.
- Agree as a family, explicitly, that nothing leaves until someone has authority.
- Locate the will and any safe deposit box keys or bank statements.
- Speak to a probate attorney and get the appointment moving.
Do not do these
Every item here feels reasonable in the moment and creates a problem later.
- Do not distribute anything, however clearly it was promised.
- Do not take items "for safekeeping" without documenting it.
- Do not clear the house before an inventory exists.
- Do not open a safe deposit box without checking what the bank requires.
- Do not assume the person with the keys is the person with authority.
Why photographs matter so much
A dated photograph of a room, taken on a phone before anything moved, is the closest thing to a baseline that exists in most estates. It is imperfect and it is enormously better than memory.
If nothing else on this page happens, do that.
Common questions
- Can we start clearing the house?
- Not before an inventory exists and somebody has authority. Clearing first is how disputes begin.
- Someone already took things.
- Document what you remember, dated, and raise it with a probate attorney promptly.
- Should we change the locks?
- If keys are unaccounted for, generally yes. Discuss with the attorney if it is contentious.
- How long does appointment take?
- It varies by county and by the estate. Your attorney will give you a realistic timescale.
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.