Prompt Pilotby Write.law
All prompts

Workflow

Build a probate administration checklist

Produces a phased, sequenced administration checklist a paralegal can run, with every deadline left blank, tied to its triggering event, and paired with the exact source you have to verify it against.

About 15 minintermediateEstates, Solo / small firm

Your prompt5,197 characters

Still to fill in: Estate profile, State and probate court

RoleYou are a probate lawyer who has administered several hundred estates and never trusted a deadline you did not read in the statute or local rule that morning. You sequence work so nothing waits on something that has not happened yet, you know which tasks quietly blow up an estate, and you will write "verify" in a date field rather than guess. A confident wrong date is worse than no checklist.What I needBuild the administration checklist for the estate below in State and probate court, proceeding as Formal or supervised administration. I want a list a paralegal can run, with every deadline flagged for verification rather than filled in.InputsEstate: Estate profile State and probate court: State and probate court Type of administration: Formal or supervised administration Who I represent: Who I represent Known complications: Known complicationsHow to work this1. Fix the posture first: date of death, whether an original will exists and who has it, whether letters have issued, and whether Formal or supervised administration is available on these facts. Anything unknown goes at the top as a Blocker. 2. Build the list in seven phases: Open, Notice, Marshal, Claims, Tax, Administration, Close. Each task carries its owner, the document it produces, the event that starts its clock, and a deadline cell. 3. Never put a number of days in a deadline cell. Write the triggering event and the source to check, then `[VERIFY → ____]`. For example, "Runs from issuance of letters; confirm in the State and probate court probate code and this court's local rules. [VERIFY → ____]". This applies to inventory, publication, the claim bar, elective share, accountings, and every tax return. 4. End with a Deadline verification worksheet: one row per deadline, giving the question, the source that answers it (statute chapter, local rule, the court's own checklist, the clerk), and blanks for the date and who verified it. 5. Call out the expensive misses: EIN before the estate account, date-of-death valuations before anything moves, actual notice to identifiable creditors rather than publication alone, ancillary probate for out-of-state realty, portability on an estate that owes no tax. 6. Tailor to Who I represent and Known complications: cut what does not apply and say what you cut, add what the complications create. Tag every task Blocking, Sequenced, or Parallel.Close with these four sections, every time, without being askedAssumptions I made. What you assumed about the estate, the court, and the procedure: solvency, that the will is self-proved, that Formal or supervised administration is available. Mark each [verify] or [safe]. Name where you assumed local practice in State and probate court rather than read it. Where this is weakest. The two or three tasks most likely to be wrong or out of order. Name the task, not "the timeline generally." What only you can decide. Options with tradeoffs, not flags. At minimum: whether to publish creditor notice now. It starts the bar sooner and shortens administration, but surfaces claims you might never have received; and whether to sell the real property through the estate (clean title, court oversight, slower) or distribute it in kind (faster, but you inherit the beneficiaries' disagreements). What would make this materially better. What most improves the next pass: the court's own administration checklist, the will, the date letters issued, a list of known creditors. Rank by impact.Output formatBlockers first. Then the seven-phase table: Phase | Task | Owner | Produces | Trigger | Deadline [VERIFY] | dependency tag. Then the expensive-miss callouts, the verification worksheet, and the four sections above.Never do this- If this checklist would fit any estate in any state, it is too generic. It has to move with these assets, this administration type, and this court. - No hedging filler. Cut "arguably," "it should be noted," and "timelines vary" used in place of naming what to check. Do not tell me to consult probate counsel. I am probate counsel. - Never state a filing deadline, publication period, claim bar, inventory due date, accounting interval, or tax due date as a number. Those come from State and probate court statute and local rule, they change, and a wrong one is a malpractice claim rather than a typo. Give the trigger and the source. Never invent a statute section or form number; mark anything uncertain [UNVERIFIED - confirm with the court]. - Where you do not know how this court handles a step, say you do not know and name who to call. Do not smooth the gap over with fluent prose. - Do not pad. A small solvent estate with one heir and no real property gets a short list. Length is not value.Before you answer- Is there a number of days anywhere in a deadline cell? Delete it and write the trigger and the source instead. - Does every deadline-bearing task appear in the worksheet with a named source? - Would this list fit another estate's file? It should not.

Adds driver's-seat tunes: options instead of answers, questions before work, every citation flagged. Your values come with it.

2

Pressure-test it

Makes the AI switch hats and attack its own answer.

A creditor's claim arrives after the estate has been distributed, and the beneficiaries are told to send money back. The claims examiner at the firm's malpractice carrier opens a file and starts with this checklist. Walk the list as the examiner would and name the three lines whose absence or wrong sequence caused it. Then read it a second time as the probate clerk who rejects filings for the wrong caption, the wrong form version, or a missing oath, and name what would come back over the counter.
3

Go deeper

Pushes the work further once the basics are right.

The dates on this checklist are blank on purpose. Convert the first 45 days into a dated docket: each entry with its trigger date, the reminder lead time, and the person responsible. Then draft the executor instruction letter that goes with it: what Renee must not do (pay a credit card, sell anything, close the checking account), what she must gather, and what she should route to me instead of answering herself.

Before you run it

What to gather first

  • Date of death, and whether an original will has been located
  • State, county, and the specific probate court or division
  • Whether letters have issued and under which administration type
  • An asset list with rough values and how each asset is titled
  • Known creditors, out-of-state property, business interests, and any contested heir

Watch for

  • Every deadline in probate (inventory, publication, claim bar, elective share, accounting, tax returns) is set by state statute and often modified by local rule. Verify each one against the current code and this court's rules. Do not accept a date from the model.
  • Supervised and unsupervised administration produce materially different checklists. Getting the administration type wrong invalidates the sequencing, not just a line item.
  • Publication alone may not be enough for creditors you could reasonably identify from the decedent's records. Search the mail, the bank statements, and the medical bills before relying on the publication bar.
  • Medicaid estate recovery, ancillary probate for out-of-state real property, and closely held business interests each add tasks the model tends to under-scope. Confirm them yourself.
  • Do not paste decedent or beneficiary identifying detail unless your firm's AI policy permits it. Probate files are public, but your work product and client communications are not.

What comes back

Blockers first. Then a seven-phase table: Phase, Task, Owner, Produces, Trigger, Deadline marked for verification, and a Blocking/Sequenced/Parallel tag. Then the expensive-miss callouts, a deadline verification worksheet giving the question and the source for every date, and the four closing sections.

See an example of what you’ll get
Blockers 1. Original 2019 will not yet in hand. Nothing in Phase 1 proceeds until it is filed with the Cobb County Probate Court. 2. IRA beneficiary designation not confirmed. If the son is still named, $220K never enters the estate and the residue math changes. 3. Administration type is listed as unsupervised, but a hostile heir plus a closely held business is the fact pattern that pushes a court toward supervision. Confirm before filing. Phase 1: Open | Task | Owner | Produces | Trigger | Deadline | Dep. | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | File original will with the probate court | Attorney | Filed will, receipt | Death | Runs from date of death; confirm the filing requirement and period in the Georgia probate code and Cobb County local rules. [VERIFY → ____] | Blocking | | Petition to probate in solemn form, with notice to heirs | Attorney | Petition, notices | Will filed | Set by court's calendar and the notice statute. [VERIFY → ____] | Sequenced | | Oath and letters testamentary; bond or waiver | Renee | Letters | Order | On order. [VERIFY → ____] | Blocking | | Certified letters ordered (6 copies) | Paralegal | Certified copies | Letters issue | None | Parallel | Phase 3: Marshal | Task | Owner | Produces | Trigger | Deadline | Dep. | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Apply for EIN (Form SS-4) | Paralegal | EIN letter | Letters issue | None, but blocks the estate account | Blocking | | Open estate checking account | Renee | Account | EIN | None | Sequenced | | Date-of-death values: house appraisal, IRA statement, bank balances, business valuation | Attorney | Valuation file | Letters issue | Before the inventory is due. [VERIFY → ____] | Blocking | | Inventory and appraisement filed or waived | Attorney | Inventory | Letters issue | Runs from issuance of letters; confirm period and whether beneficiary consent waives it, Georgia probate code inventory provision. [VERIFY → ____] | Sequenced | Expensive misses on this file. (1) The Pruitt Sign Co. 40% interest needs a valuation before distribution and before any 706 decision. Get a business appraiser now, not in month nine. (2) Medicaid: 14 months of benefits before death means an estate recovery claim is likely. Identify the state's recovery unit and the notice or claim procedure before distributing. (3) The Sylva, NC lot requires an ancillary proceeding in Jackson County, NC: different court, different clock, and it will be the last thing to close. (4) No estate tax will be owed, but if a portability election is ever wanted, it has its own return and its own deadline. Deadline verification worksheet | # | Question to answer | Where to answer it | Date | Verified by | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | How long after death must an original will be filed in Georgia? | Ga. probate code, will-deposit provision; Cobb County local rules | ____ | ____ | | 2 | What notice period applies to heirs on a petition in solemn form? | Notice statute + court's standard form | ____ | ____ | | 3 | How long is the creditor publication period, and when does the bar close? | Ga. creditor-notice statute; check the legal organ for Cobb County | ____ | ____ | | 4 | When is the inventory due, and can it be waived by consent? | Ga. inventory provision; probate court checklist | ____ | ____ | | 5 | Deadline for the decedent's final Form 1040 and for the estate's first Form 1041, given a fiscal-year election | IRS instructions, current year | ____ | ____ | | 6 | Medicaid estate recovery: claim window and notice requirement | Georgia recovery unit; state plan rules | ____ | ____ | --- Assumptions I made. That the estate is solvent [verify - medical debt is unquantified]. That the 2019 will is self-proved [verify - the intake says so, the document has not been read]. That Renee qualifies as executor despite living out of state [verify - some states require a resident agent]. Where this is weakest. The Phase 4 claims sequence. It assumes an unsupervised administration and one publication run; if the court supervises, half of Phase 4 becomes petition-and-order work. Second weakest is the business valuation timing. I have it in Phase 3, but if the son formally objects it moves earlier and gets expensive. What only you can decide. Whether to publish creditor notice immediately or after you have inventoried the medical debt. Publishing now starts the bar sooner and gets the estate closed faster, but it also surfaces claims you might never have received. Also yours: sell the house through the estate (clean title, court comfort, three months slower) or distribute it in kind and let two siblings who already disagree about the sign company decide together when to list it. What would make this materially better. (1) The Cobb County Probate Court's own administration checklist: it is authoritative for half the rows above. (2) The date letters issue, which starts most of the clocks. (3) The IRA beneficiary designation. (4) A list of known creditors pulled from three months of mail.
Why this prompt is built the way it is
## Framework 1. **Posture before sequence.** Date of death, original will and its location, whether letters have issued, and whether the chosen administration type is actually available. Unknowns are blockers, not footnotes. 2. **Seven phases.** Open, Notice, Marshal, Claims, Tax, Administration, Close. Every task names its owner, its product, and the event that starts its clock. 3. **Deadlines are verified, never recalled.** No number of days in any date cell. The trigger and the source go in; the date comes from the statute, the local rule, or the clerk. 4. **A verification worksheet ships with the list.** One row per deadline: the question, the source, the answer, who checked it. 5. **Name the expensive misses.** EIN before the account, date-of-death values before anything moves, actual notice to identifiable creditors, ancillary probate, portability. 6. **Tailor and subtract.** Cut what does not apply and say what was cut. Complications add tasks; simple estates get short lists. 7. **Mark dependency.** Blocking, Sequenced, or Parallel on every line, so the list can be worked without asking.