In common law jurisdictions, a personal representative or legal personal representative is a person appointed by a court to administer the estate of another person. If the estate being administered is that of a deceased person, the personal representative is either an

executor An executor is someone who is responsible for executing, or following through on, an assigned task or duty. The feminine form, executrix, may sometimes be used. Overview An executor is a legal term referring to a person named by the maker of a ...

if the deceased person left a will or an

administrator Administrator or admin may refer to: Job roles Computing and internet * Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database * Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum * ...

of an intestate estate. In other situations, the personal representative may be a guardian or trustee, or other position. As a

fiduciary A fiduciary is a person who holds a legal or ethical relationship of trust with one or more other parties (person or group of persons). Typically, a fiduciary prudently takes care of money or other assets for another person. One party, for exa ...

, a personal representative has the duties of

loyalty Loyalty, in general use, is a devotion and faithfulness to a nation, cause, philosophy, country, group, or person. Philosophers disagree on what can be an object of loyalty, as some argue that loyalty is strictly interpersonal and only another ...

candor Candor or candour may refer to: * Candor or parrhesia, the quality of speaking candidly in rhetoric * ''Candour'' (magazine), a British far-right magazine * "Candour", a song by Neck Deep from their 2014 album ''Wishful Thinking Wishful thin ...

or honesty, and

good faith In human interactions, good faith ( la, bona fides) is a sincere intention to be fair, open, and honest, regardless of the outcome of the interaction. Some Latin phrases have lost their literal meaning over centuries, but that is not the case ...

. In the United States, ''punctilio of honor'', or the highest standard of honor, is the level of scrupulousness that a fiduciary must abide by.'' Meinhard v. Salmon'', 164 N.E. 545 (N.Y. 1928). In either case of a deceased estate, a

probate court A probate court (sometimes called a surrogate court) is a court that has competence in a jurisdiction to deal with matters of probate and the administration of estates. In some jurisdictions, such courts may be referred to as Orphans' Courts o ...

of competent jurisdiction issues a finding of fact, including that a will has or has not been filed, and that an executor or administrator has been appointed. These are often referred to as "letters testamentary", "letters of administration" or "letters of representation", as the case may be. These documents, with the appropriate death certificate, are often the only license a person needs to do the banking, stock trading, real estate transactions, and other actions necessary to marshal and dispose of the deceased's estate in the name of the estate itself.

Types

There are a number of types of personal representatives, including: *

Administrator Administrator or admin may refer to: Job roles Computing and internet * Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database * Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum * ...

* Administrator ''de bonis non'' - one acting without complete authority * Alternate executor * Ancillary administrator * Conservator *

Executor An executor is someone who is responsible for executing, or following through on, an assigned task or duty. The feminine form, executrix, may sometimes be used. Overview An executor is a legal term referring to a person named by the maker of a ...

or executrix (term for females) *

Legal guardian A legal guardian is a person who has been appointed by a court or otherwise has the legal authority (and the corresponding duty) to make decisions relevant to the personal and property interests of another person who is deemed incompetent, cal ...

* Overseer - an assistant to an executor, now mostly obsolete *

Public administrator Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, Administration (government), administration of Government, government establishment (Governance#P ...

U.S. Department of Defense

In the U.S., the Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants appointed a Personal Representative (CSRT) to meet with each captive who was still being held in

extrajudicial detention Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terror ...

in the United States

Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...

s, in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbean ...

, in August 2004, when the Supreme Court forced the Department of Defense to start convening

Combatant Status Review Tribunal The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were esta ...

s. Such a personal representative is more like a '' guardian ad litem''.

References

Bibliography

* Inheritance Common law Legal terminology {{Law-term-stub