imported>BD2412: /* Bibliography */clean up spacing around commas and other punctuation fixes, replaced: , → ,

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Bibliography: clean up spacing around commas and other punctuation fixes, replaced: , → ,

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{{short description|Person appointed by a court to administer the estate of another}}
{{Wills, trusts, estates}}
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]] if the deceased person left a will or an [[administrator of an estate|administrator]] of an [[intestate]] estate.<ref>Hayton & Marshall (2005) '''1-127'''-'''1-128'''</ref> In other situations, the personal representative may be a guardian or trustee, or other position. As a [[fiduciary]], a personal representative has the duties of [[loyalty]], [[Duty of candor|candor]] or [[honesty]], and [[good faith]]. In the United States, ''punctilio of honor'', or the highest standard of honor, is the level of scrupulousness that a fiduciary must abide by.<ref>''[[Meinhard v. Salmon]]'', 164 N.E. 545 (N.Y. 1928).</ref>

In either case of a deceased estate, a [[probate court]] 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 (law)|Administrator]]
* [[De bonis non administratis|Administrator ''de bonis non'']] - one acting without complete authority
* [[Alternate executor]]
* [[Ancillary administration|Ancillary administrator]]
* [[Conservator (law)|Conservator]]
* [[Executor]] or executrix (term for females)
* [[Legal guardian]]
* [[Overseer (law)|Overseer]] - an assistant to an executor, now mostly obsolete
* [[Public administrator]]

==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]] in the [[United States]] [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp]]s, in [[Cuba]], in August 2004, when the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] forced the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] to start convening [[Combatant Status Review Tribunal]]s. Such a personal representative is more like a ''[[guardian ad litem]]''.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
*{{cite book |author1=Hayton, D. |author2=Marshall, C. |name-list-style=amp |year=2005 |title=Commentary and Cases on the Law of Trusts and Equitable Remedies |publisher=[[Sweet & Maxwell]] |location=London |isbn=0-421-90190-X |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/commentarycaseso12edhayt }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Personal Representative}}
[[Category:Inheritance]]
[[Category:Common law]]
[[Category:Legal terminology]]

{{Law-term-stub}}

Personal representative - Revision history

imported>BD2412: /* Bibliography */clean up spacing around commas and other punctuation fixes, replaced: , → ,