What are Letters of Administration in a probate case?

Attorney Tom Olsen: Alexis, I've been a lawyer for over 40 years. I will occasionally get an email or a text, and it goes something like this, "Tom, my mom has passed away. She had money in the bank. I'm trying to get access to it and it was in her name only. The bank says I need a letter." As soon as I hear a letter, I know what they're talking about.

Attorney Alexis Richards: Me too.

Tom Olsen: What are they talking about?

Alexis Richards: They are talking about a document called the letters of administration, or also known as letters testamentary. Basically, what that does is, it appoints someone to conduct business on behalf of the estate, and it gives that person the ability to access that bank account.

Tom Olsen: Again, people, they call and say, "Oh yes, Tom, all I need's a letter from the probate court." They think it's literally a letter, but it's not.

Alexis Richards: It's like they think we write the letter.

Tom Olsen: Exactly. What they're really referring to, and they just don't know it yet, is they're referring to letters of administration. It is signed by the judge. It appoints an executor, also known as a personal representative of the estate, and it gives that executor the legal authority to go out and transact business on behalf of the estate.

Alexis Richards: Absolutely.

Tom Olsen: When I tell people that-- Mom has passed away, they'll say, "Well, I'll just go down to the bank, show them mom's will and mom's death certificate," and they'll turn the money over to them. Well, we know that that's not true.

Alexis Richards: That is not true, and the bank will not do that for you.

Tom Olsen: That bank account's going to be locked up until the court appoints an executor, also known as a personal representative, and issues letters of administration. I tell that client, "Look, when you go down to the bank with your letters of administration, the bank will do whatever you ask them to do."

Alexis Richards: Absolutely, because they see that person is the one that's supposed to be there, talking to them.

Tom Olsen: Folks, if you got a question about probate, or any other area of the law, we're standing by to talk to you right now. We would love to get your legal question. 407-916-5400. Text us, 23680. Alexis, since you're doing probate now, I'm going to tell you about a case that I heard of, and this probably goes back 10 years ago, but it was a man who worked in probate. He was a probate clerk at the courthouse, so he worked for the probate department, and he had the bright idea of getting a fake certified copy seal.

He worked for the probate court. He was a clerk, but he would make fake letters of administration. Now, put that fake seal on it, go to the bank, and get access to people's money that way.

Alexis Richards: Oh, my gosh.

Tom Olsen: Of course, he got caught and got put in jail for it, but when we talk about letters of administration, yes, they got to be signed by the judge. You got to get certified copies from the court clerk, but at the end of the day, it is a piece of paper, and if somebody wanted to fake one-- By the way, when we get certified copies, as you know, we pay the clerk for certified copies. They put a certified copy stamp on it, which is in red ink, typically, and the court clerk is personally signing every one of them.

If we say we want five certified copies of letters of administration, they got to print it five times. They got to stamp it five times. They got to sign it five times.

Alexis Richards: Exactly. Each individual copy must be stamped, dated, and signed.

Tom Olsen: Exactly. If you go to the bank to do business with it, they're not going to take an ordinary copy. They want a certified copy.

Alexis Richards: They do.

Tom Olsen: That's part of what we do, is to order people a certified copy, but you can see how a smart clerk will say, "Hey, all I got to do is buy a fake red stamp, prepare some fake letters, sign it, stamp it, and I can go get access to people's money." Sure enough, he was.

Alexis Richards: Oh, my gosh, that's horrible.

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