Letters testamentary
Letters testamentary are the court-issued document showing that a personal representative has been appointed and holds authority to act for an estate.
They are the thing everybody asks for and nobody has to hand.
What they prove#
That this specific person may act for this specific estate.
Without them, a personal representative is someone asserting a role. With them, they can sign, sell, deal with lenders, close accounts and convey property.
The naming convention reflects how the appointment arose. Letters testamentary where there was a will. Letters of general administration where there was not. The authority is broadly the same.
Who will demand them#
Everyone with anything to lose.
Title companies, before insuring a conveyance out of an estate.
Mortgage servicers, before discussing a decedent's loan — including before telling a family what is owed, which is why estates so often cannot get a payoff figure.
Banks, before releasing or transferring accounts.
Insurers, before dealing with a claim on estate property.
Recency matters#
This catches people at closings.
Title companies and financial institutions commonly want letters certified within a recent period, often 60 days. Letters issued two years ago, at the start of a long administration, may not satisfy that.
Obtaining fresh certified copies from the court is routine, quick and cheap. It is worth doing before a closing date is set rather than discovering the requirement three days out.
Restrictions#
The appointment can limit what the representative may do, and letters can be restricted accordingly.
A restriction on selling real property without further court approval is the one that matters for a house. A title examiner reads the letters and, where necessary, the underlying order — so a restriction discovered at closing stops the transaction.
Where a sale is contemplated, establishing early that the authority exists is part of preparing the property, not part of closing it.
Practical sequence for an inherited house#
Get someone appointed. Get letters. Get certified copies.
Then deal with the insurance, the taxes and the mortgage — each of which requires producing the letters to whoever is on the other end.
Families frequently do this in the opposite order, spending months trying to get information out of institutions that cannot lawfully provide it to anyone without letters.
Get more copies than you think you need#
Practical advice that saves weeks.
Every institution wants its own certified copy and most will not return it. A bank, a servicer, an insurer, a title company, a utility, a broker — each takes one.
Certified copies cost a few dollars each from the court. Ordering six at the outset costs less than making three separate trips to the courthouse over the following months, and it removes a delay that arrives at the least convenient moments.
Where an administration runs long, order fresh copies before a closing rather than presenting letters certified two years earlier, since title companies commonly want them dated within a recent window.