Tax issues that surface during probate — unfiled returns, amended filings, IRS notices, and coordination with the estate administration timeline.
Probate is the legal process of settling a decedent's estate. Tax obligations are a central part of this process — and they often determine how long probate takes and how much of the estate ultimately passes to beneficiaries. In most states, an estate cannot be fully closed until all tax liabilities are resolved.
We regularly work alongside probate attorneys and estate administrators. Our role is to handle the tax side while the attorney handles the legal side — and to stay in communication so that tax deadlines don't create problems for the probate timeline, and probate developments don't create surprises on the tax side.
We frequently step into estates that are already in progress — sometimes because the prior preparer didn't specialize in fiduciary work, sometimes because no one had been handling the tax side at all. We review what's been filed, identify what still needs to be done, and develop a clear plan to get the estate into compliance and moving toward closing.