What an executor actually has to do in the first week is rarely what anyone imagines when they first agree to take on the role. Most people picture paperwork and phone calls. What they get instead is a full-time job that arrives without a manual, often in the middle of grief, and almost always with a clock running in the background. Heritage Property Transitions works with families across St. Louis, MO who are navigating exactly this situation, and the questions we hear most often in those early days are the same ones: Where do I start? What has to happen now versus later? And what is this all going to take?
This article is an attempt to answer those questions plainly.
A 2023 survey by Trust & Will found that more than 60 percent of American adults do not have a will. When someone dies without one, the court appoints an administrator to handle the estate. But even when a will exists and names an executor clearly, most executors have never done this before. They are not attorneys. They are not accountants. They are a sibling, a neighbor, a longtime friend who said yes years ago without fully understanding what yes meant. The first week tends to be the hardest, not because the tasks are complicated in isolation, but because there are so many of them arriving at once.
Here is what that first week actually looks like, broken into the parts that matter most.
Securing the Property
The first practical task is making sure the home or property is physically secure. This means changing the locks if keys have been passed around, confirming that utilities are still running, and doing a basic walkthrough to document what is there. In St. Louis County, where estate properties range from modest bungalows in Kirkwood to larger homes in Ladue, the condition of the property at the time of death varies widely. Some homes are orderly. Many are not.
This walkthrough is not a cleanout. It is an inventory. The executor is not there to remove anything yet. They are there to understand what they are working with. Taking photographs room by room is standard practice and protects the executor if questions arise later about what was present at the start.
Locating the Documents
In the first week, the executor needs to find several specific documents: the original will, any trust documents, financial account statements, insurance policies, vehicle titles, and the deed to the property if real estate is involved. These are often scattered. They may be in a filing cabinet, a safe, a shoebox under a bed, or stored digitally in an email account no one else has the password to.
This is also when the executor needs to obtain certified copies of the death certificate. Most institutions require an original certified copy, not a photocopy. Attorneys in Clayton who handle probate matters routinely advise executors to order at least ten certified copies at the outset. It sounds like a lot. It rarely turns out to be enough.
Notifying the Right People
Within the first week, the executor should notify Social Security, any pension administrators, life insurance companies, and financial institutions where the deceased held accounts. Banks will typically freeze accounts once they are notified of a death, which is why the sequence matters. Understanding what accounts exist before making notifications gives the executor a clearer picture.
If the estate is going through probate, the executor will need to file with the probate court in the appropriate county. In Missouri, that process begins with submitting the will and a petition to open the estate. The probate deadline for creditors to file claims in Missouri is generally six months from the date of the first published notice, which means the timeline for settling the estate is already underway.
Understanding What the Property Holds
This is where most executors start to feel the weight of the physical side of estate work. The home itself often contains decades of accumulated belongings. Furniture, clothing, tools, collections, documents, and items of uncertain value are all mixed together. The executor is responsible for making decisions about all of it before a closing date on the property or before the estate can be settled.
An estate cleanout is not the same as moving. It is not the same as a garage sale. It involves sorting what should be kept by family, what can be donated, what has resale value, and what needs to be removed. A single dumpster load of materials from a three-bedroom home in Webster Groves might represent only a fraction of what needs to go. Donation coordination for items that are still usable requires scheduling, transportation, and documentation for the estate's records.
Executors who try to do this work alone often underestimate how long it takes. A home that looks manageable in a two-hour walkthrough can take weeks to fully clear when done carefully. That timeline affects probate deadlines, carrying costs on the property, and the family's ability to move forward.
Getting a Realistic Sense of Cost and Time
One of the most common things executors tell us is that they had no idea what an estate cleanout should cost or how long it would take. The honest answer is that it depends on the size of the home, the volume of contents, the condition of the property, and how much sorting needs to happen before anything can be removed.
What an executor actually has to do in the first week does not include completing the cleanout. It does include starting to understand the scope of it. Getting a professional assessment early, before committing to any particular approach, gives the executor real information to work with rather than guesses.
Heritage Property Transitions connects families in St. Louis County with vetted providers who are insured and background-checked. We do not set the price and we do not do the work ourselves. What we do is help families understand what they are looking at and who can help them with it. The family sets the pace. There is no pressure to move faster than the situation requires.
What an executor actually has to do in the first week is establish a foundation. Secure the property. Find the documents. Make the necessary notifications. Begin to understand what the estate holds. And start asking the right questions about what comes next.
If you are an executor in the St. Louis area, whether you are managing a property in Ladue, working through a probate process in Clayton, or trying to figure out what to do with a home in Kirkwood or Webster Groves, the work ahead is manageable. It just takes the right information and the right support at the right time.
Heritage Property Transitions is available to talk through where you are and what makes sense for your situation.
Ready to get started? Heritage Property Transitions can help.