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Real Law Society

A School of the Academy

School of Estate Administration

Department of Probate & Succession

Probate, intestacy, and the orderly settlement of estates.

§ 0·a

The Record

Publications
3
Treatises
1
Articles
2
Authorities
7
Certificates
1
Library Divisions
3

§ I

Introduction

Scope of Study

Estate Administration

Estate administration is procedure made visible. The School teaches the sequence: appointment, inventory, notice, claims, distribution, and discharge — with citations to every step.

§ I·b·2

Subject Navigation

The subject architecture of this School.

Each group below is generated from the Society's own taxonomy — the Parts of the School's treatises, its editorial categories, and its Library divisions.

Library Divisions

§ II

Philosophy of the School

On how this School reads.

An estate is settled by a sequence the law has worked out with care. The School treats that sequence as a procedural architecture: each step has a statutory basis, a record, and a consequence. The fiduciary's authority is bounded by the appointment, and the appointment is bounded by the court.

§ III

What Students Will Study

The commitments of the School.

A School commits to a set of questions and to a method of reading them. The following are the working commitments of this department.

  1. 01

    The order in which an estate is opened, administered, and closed

  2. 02

    The instruments by which authority is granted and recorded

  3. 03

    The treatment of creditor claims under the probate code

  4. 04

    The accounting required of a personal representative

  5. 05

    The distinctions between testate and intestate succession

§ IV

Reading and Study Framework

The departmental reading and study framework.

A departmental framework for reading the field, arranged in six tiers by depth of inquiry. It is a reference for study within the School, not the syllabus of an active course, and it carries no enrollment, assignments, or record of completion. Foundations are read before advanced work presumes them.

Foundations

  1. 01

    The will: execution, revocation, and probate

  2. 02

    Intestate succession under the Uniform Probate Code

  3. 03

    Domicile and ancillary administration

Intermediate Study

  1. 01

    Appointment and qualification of a personal representative

  2. 02

    Inventory, appraisement, and the duty to safeguard

  3. 03

    Notice to creditors and the running of the bar date

Advanced Study

  1. 01

    Will contests: grounds, standing, and burden

  2. 02

    Allowance and disallowance of claims

  3. 03

    Distribution, final accounting, and discharge

Research & Method

  1. 01

    Reading a state probate code against the Uniform Probate Code

  2. 02

    Local rules of the probate court and the role of the register

  3. 03

    Surveying interstate transfer-on-death statutes

Reference Materials

  1. 01

    Uniform Probate Code, with official commentary

  2. 02

    State probate codes and rules of the probate court

Suggested Reading

  1. 01

    Atkinson, Handbook of the Law of Wills

  2. 02

    McGovern, Kurtz, English & Gallanis, Wills, Trusts, and Estates

§ IV·b

Learning Path

A working sequence for the School.

A staged reading order — from institutional introduction through primary authority to advanced research.

  1. 01

    Introduction

    Estate administration is procedure made visible. The School teaches the sequence: appointment, inventory, notice, claims, distribution, and discharge — with citations to every step.

  2. 02

    Core Treatise

    The Duties of a Trustee

    Open the treatise →
  3. 03

    Working Articles

    Editorial articles for this School.

  4. 04

    Primary Authorities

    Featured entries from the Legal Corpus.

  5. 05

    Related Schools

    Departments that read alongside this one.

§ V

Learning Outcomes

The capacities a member should leave with.

Outcomes are stated as capacities, not credentials. They describe what a member should be able to do after sustained reading.

  1. 01

    Open and close an estate under a state probate code

  2. 02

    Identify and respond to creditor claims within the statutory window

  3. 03

    Produce an accounting that satisfies the court of final settlement

§ VI

Primary Authorities

The texts the School takes seriously.

Authorities are listed by category. Entries marked in preparation are catalogued and reviewed before they enter the working record.

Statutes

2 entries

  • Authority

    Uniform Probate Code (1969, as revised)

  • Authority

    State enactments and non-uniform amendments

Court Rules

1 entry

  • Authority

    Rules of the probate division, by state

Practice Manuals

1 entry

  • In Preparation

    Forthcoming — catalogue in preparation

§ VII

Featured Publications

From the press of the institution.

The following volumes are drawn from, or supply, the work of this School. Each is reviewed by faculty before publication.

The Society Press

All publications →

§ VII·b

From the Press

Articles associated with this School.

Editorial articles tagged to the subjects of this School, drawn from the Real Law Society Press.

§ VII·c

Certificates

Certificate programs associated with this School.

Certificate programs of the Academy that draw on the reading of this School. A certificate program is entered through the Academy, not through the School itself.

  • Certificate · Intermediate

    Certificate in Estate Administration

    Open to Society Members

    The orderly settlement of an estate, read through the probate code and the rules of the probate court.

    Enrollment requires an active Society Membership ($15 per month or $150 per year). A free Registered Member account does not confer enrollment. Enrollment is completed within the Academy once membership is in force.

    Review Society Membership to enroll →

§ VII·f

Legal Corpus

Authorities catalogued for this School.

Entries drawn from the Real Law Society Legal Corpus that supply the primary reading of this School.

  • statute

    Magna Carta

  • statute

    De Donis Conditionalibus

  • statute

    Quia Emptores

  • statute

    Statute of Uses

  • statute

    Statute of Enrolments

  • statute

    Statute of Wills

  • statute

    Statute of Frauds

§ VII·g

Authors

Contributors to this School.

  • Journal · Author

    Faculty of the School of Trust Law

§ VII·h

From the Journal

Institutional news associated with this School.

  • Journal

    The Uniform Trust Code at Twenty-Five

    Twenty-five years after promulgation, the Uniform Trust Code has been enacted, with variations, in a substantial majority of the states. The article surveys the enactments, the principal non-uniform amendments, and the doctrinal questions that remain unsettled.

  • Journal

    Surcharge and Removal: The Remedy as a Record

    A research note on the equitable remedies of surcharge and removal as remedies of record. The note argues that the procedural posture in which each is sought is constitutive of the remedy itself.

§ VIII

Research in the Library

Where this School reads.

The divisions below carry the primary materials this School draws on. The catalogue opens in stages as the index is reviewed.

  • Library Division

    Statutes

    Codified federal and state statutory law, organized by title and chapter.

  • Library Division

    Court Rules

    Federal and state rules of procedure, evidence, and local practice.

  • Library Division

    Forms

    Court-approved forms, registers, and recorder instruments.

Catalogue · XI Divisions

Enter the Research Library →

§ IX

Related Schools

Departments that read alongside this one.

Doctrine does not respect departmental boundaries. The following Schools take up adjacent questions.

§ X

Timeline

Recent activity of this School.

The institutional record — publications, articles, primary authorities, and journal notices — in date order.

  1. 2026

    Press · Article

    Community Property
  2. 2026

    Press · Article

    Classifications of Property and the Doctrine of Fixtures
  3. 2025

    Treatise

    The Duties of a Trustee

  4. 2025

    Practice Manual

    Estate Administration in Practice

  5. 2025

    Educational Guide

    An Introduction to Legal Research

  6. 1677

    Statute of Frauds, 29 Car. 2, c. 3 (1677)

    Statute of Frauds
  7. 1540

    Statute of Wills, 32 Hen. 8, c. 1 (1540)

    Statute of Wills
  8. 1536

    Statute of Enrolments, 27 Hen. 8, c. 16 (1536)

    Statute of Enrolments

§ XI

Continue Research

Next reading for this School.

A short standing recommendation drawn across the institutional record.

Publication

The Duties of a Trustee

Authority

Magna Carta

§ XI

Browse This Subject

Where to continue in the institution.

Each gateway opens the family surface in which this School's records are catalogued.

Society Membership

Membership in the Real Law Society.

Membership is in the Society, not in a single School. Members may read every School, including Estate Administration, together with the Library and the Press. A School is a subject-area home and is not itself enrollable or completable. Certificate programs are entered separately within the Academy, and enrollment requires an active Society Membership; the Certificate in Legal Research and the Certificate in Estate Administration are open now, and the remaining programs are announced as each one opens. Founding Membership is a separate, optional designation reviewed by the Office of Administration.

View MembershipReturn to the Academy →
The Real Law Society · Est. MMXXVRead Law. Not Lore.™Vol. I — Folio I