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I am the executor for an estate in Pennsylvania. The person died in 2008 and did not have any insurance. Someone came forward and paid for the funeral expenses and provided receipts to the estate attorney. The executor (me) was never notified of the claim against the estate. In fact, I received a letter from the attorney in 2011 stating that there were no claims against the estate.


In a few months, the property of the deceased will likely be sold and there will finally be a cash balance in the estate account. Based on the law, is the person who paid for the funeral legally entitled to be reimbursed even though it was over 8 years ago?

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I don't think statute of limitations should have anything to do with repaying a person that paid final expenses. It certainly is not their fault closure of the estate took so long or the error made by the attorney. By all means, pay that person back. Why would you not want to pay them back?
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If the atty posted a Notice to Creditors and got a bill, they should have entered it as a claim against the estate. It would have had some sort of time frame for these types of claims to be filed which vary by state law. Can you get the docket from probate court to see the documents filed? Sometimes if you know the PC #, it an be emailed. Or sometimes there's a per page fee for docket report. Claims are usually paid by class or by priority. Funeral & burial costs are usually a class 1 or class 2 claim so a priority payment. If the atty erred in doing the Claims Against the Estate, there could be other issues with settling the estate.

This is almost a decade since Letters presented, I'd really get the docket report and go through it carefully to make sure no glitches. You don't want a surprise to pop up at closing (like a lein placed on property). Actually I'd suggest for you to check with the title company days ahead of closing to make sure there's no clouds lurking due to probate deficiencies.

If there's $, I'm with the others on paying the person who handled the funeral expense. & with a big gift card from a nicer store!
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Are you still legally the executor? Having an estate remain open for nine years is an unusually long period.

Regardless, I agree with the above replies that what this person did was very generous and considerate and if the money is available they should be repaid - a "thank you" note and a bouquet of flowers wouldn't be a bad idea either, in my opinion.

That said - at least here in Oregon there are laws establishing the priority of who gets paid first from an estate- with attorneys being at the top of the list followed by outstanding financial debts to creditors.

So you probably need to check into any legally established repayment hierarchy as it applies in the estates resident state first.
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Even if the estate may not be legally bound to pay the expense, as executor it would be one of my first debts to pay unless there was a very good reason not to do it. Such reasons would be if the person was indebted to your parents in some way. Otherwise, paying for the funeral was a good-hearted thing to do. I wouldn't hesitate to repay if the estate has enough.
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I think it is only fair to reimburse whomever had paid for the funeral out of their own pocket.
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