Luling, TX Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

It means two things.  First, you agree that you do not need to know the date of the hearing and be present.  Second, it means that you agree that your stepmother should be able to administer your father's estate free of court supervision.  This means that she does need to submit an inventory but does not need the court's permission to sell, for example, your father's car and does not need to provide an accounting to the court.  A beneficiary may nonetheless request an accountign 15 months after the executor is appointed. Are you sure that a Will is being probated?  Ordinarily, beneficiaries are notified after, not before, a Will is admitted to probate.  In an intestacy, heirs are asked to sign a distributee's waiver of notice and consent to application for independent administration before the hearing.  

The court will only give you instructions on whether or not you need to file an inventory. As executor/administrator you should hire an attorney to advise you on how to proceed. The will may say whether you are to be paid or not. Often times even when the will says the executor can be paid, if the executor is also an heir and it is family, they often waive the fee. If there is no will then you are likely eligible for a statutory fee of up to 5% of the value of the estate (ie. the proceeds that you collect from selling assets).