As the sole beneficiary of father's estate, can I use the estate's money for non-estate reasons while still in probate?

Question

I am the sole beneficiary and executor of my father's estate. Home was placed in a trust but his bank accounts were not and money (approx. $400,000) is now in the estate account.  At the time of his death he had no debt.  Prior to his death, we needed to do major updates to or home in order for him to move in with us as he could no longer live alone.  Unfortunately, he died after only living with us for a few weeks.   Since their are no other heirs to contend with and no debt, can I use a small portion of the estate money to help pay for expenses incurred to update our home while still in probate?

Richard Sternberg · Answer

Once you have filed the petition for probate, received your Letters, and have filed the Inventory, you can do an advance to the heirs. Since you are the only heir, that would mean you. But, you will be responsible if your advance exceeds the available resources of the Estate after payment of Creditors. If the payments are legitimate debts of the estate in your judgment as personal representative, you can also pay such legitimate debts, though self-dealing to escape creditors may make you, as personal representative, liable. All in all, if you are transferring title to property in trust and $400,000 in cash assets, you can afford to have a lawyer help you with this, and, these days, you can retain consulting counsel outside your county and accomplish most of what you want to accomplish by telephone with you walking the papers through. Indeed, if there are funds in the trust as well as a deed, you might be able to pay counsel from the trust and save the extra expenses of a lawyer filing for approval of a fee by the court.

Q: As the sole beneficiary of father's estate, can I use the estate's money for non-estate reasons while still in probate?