Q: I just completed Summary Administration in Florida. In the next couple of months. Will I have what I need?

A: This is always a problem with banking institutions and similar institutions, and this is a lesson learned via trial and error by the attorney handling the probate and filing the summary administration. The Attorney will likely have to write a separate letter on letterhead explaining the Summary Administration and the Petitioners role in probate, meanwhile, the vast majority of banks and their employees will demand they must have letters of administration and this process will go round and round with the various banks, or someone will have dealt with it and will get it at the bank (rarely so), so round and round this goes, remember, no bank has to open any account and many/most will just outright decline without letters of administration from a formal probate unless an attorney intervenes. In addition, if the probate attorney was in the know and had experience with this issue specifically, they would have written something into the order of summary administration that addresses this issue. This has been my own experience, and it is rarely easy dealing with the bank on this summary administration issue. You will have to revisit with a probate attorney and get them involved probably to get this addressed and resolved. If you have not already done so, you need to also get your estate ein number, so you should get going on that as well if you have not already done so. Impressing upon the bank and their employees the petitioner role via a summary administration compared to PR in a formal probate with letters of administration is always a difficult hurdle i can promise based on ongoing experiences with such as a probate attorney.

A: It is usually an issue. The order should be specific to deal with this issue. Banks prefer full Letters of Administration. With the right counsel, you should be able to get this done with a detailed letter and if not, amend the Petition and obtain an amended Letters of Administration. You will also need to obtain an EIN for the estate account.

A: If the order of summary administration lists these checks and that they are to be paid 100% to you, then you can get a certified copy of the court order and send it together with the checks which are likely to be made out to the estate of the deceased and have them reissued to you. If the judge's order does not specifically list these checks as assets to be reissued to the heir named on the order, then you may need to go back and amend your petition and submit an amended order once you know the amount of the checks. With a summary administration, you do not have letters of administration and cannot open an estate account, so it is critical that all assets including checks to be reissued are listed on the petition and proposed order OR alternately that a line item described as "rest, residue and remainder of estate 100%" are listed on the order, which can also then serve to have any additional assets/checks to be reissued at a future time. If you are unable to figure this out on your own, then you should consult with a probate attorney.