Probate - called estate administration, or letters of administration when there's no will - is the legal process of unlocking a dead person's affairs: proving who's entitled to deal with them, gathering what they owned, paying what they owed, and passing on the rest. It exists so banks don't hand estates to whoever calls first. It is slow everywhere, and the slowness is not you failing.
The honest basics
- The rules are local. Every country (and often every state or province) does this differently - deadlines, thresholds, names. One consultation with a local probate solicitor or estate attorney, even just an hour, will tell you your actual map
- Small estates often skip the full process - many places have simplified routes below a value threshold. Ask before assuming you need the whole machine
- Nothing is usually distributed for months. Tell impatient relatives the law sets the pace, and let the law take the blame
- You can resign the job. Being named executor is an invitation, not a sentence - a professional can be appointed instead, paid from the estate
Meanwhile, you can
- Keep every document in one folder, unsorted - sorting is the professional's job
- Pay nothing large from your own pocket; the estate settles its own debts, in a legal order
- Note dates and calls in one place. Future-you, six months in, will be grateful
Plainly: this piece is a map, not legal advice - the territory is yours and local. But knowing the shape of the process takes half its menace away. It's paperwork with a queue, not a test of your love.