Personal Representative
Also called: PR, estate representative
Updated June 7, 2026
The same job, different origins
The distinction between executor and administrator matters mostly at the appointment stage. Once they have their letters — letters testamentary for an executor, letters of administration for an administrator — both hold the same legal authority and carry the same fiduciary duties: gathering assets, paying debts and taxes, and distributing what remains.
What your personal representative needs
Whoever serves, they need to be able to find your documents quickly. A personal representative who cannot locate the will, the account statements, or the deed to the family home must either reconstruct the estate from scratch or wait while institutions respond to subpoenas. Neither is a kind start.
Related terms
- Executor — An executor is the person named in a will to carry out its instructions — gathering the deceased's assets, paying debts and taxes, and distributing what remains to the beneficiaries. The executor is accountable to the probate court and must act in the interest of the estate, not their own.
- Administrator — An administrator is a person appointed by a probate court to settle an estate when the deceased left no will, or when the will named no executor who can serve. The administrator has the same duties as an executor — gathering assets, paying debts, and distributing what remains — but receives their authority from the court rather than from a will.
- Letters Testamentary — Letters testamentary is a document issued by a probate court that officially authorizes the executor named in a will to act on behalf of the estate — to access accounts, transfer property, and conduct the business of settling the estate. Without it, banks and institutions will not cooperate with an executor.
- Letters of Administration — Letters of administration is a document issued by a probate court that formally authorizes a court-appointed administrator to manage and settle an estate when the deceased left no will, or when the named executor cannot serve. It serves the same practical purpose as letters testamentary — proving legal authority to act — but applies to intestate estates.
- Probate — Probate is the court-supervised process of proving a will is valid, settling the deceased's debts and taxes, and distributing what remains to the people entitled to it. It applies whether or not there is a will, and it is overseen by a probate court in the county where the person lived.
Legatus Vault keeps your wills, trusts, and estate documents in one secure place and releases them — only when the time comes, and only after careful verification — to the people you choose.