Part two of what you would file in court if there wasn't a will involved.

What's the Difference Between Independent Administration and Dependent Administration?

Before we get into the application, I want to make a distinction between an independent administration and a dependent one. Generally speaking, people like the independent administration because it allows them to wind up the deceased's affairs without having to get court approval for every action they would take.

Under dependent administration you've got to get court permission. If you want to sell something, if you want to lease something, if you want to transfer a deed, whatever, then you're going to have to keep on coming back to the court. And every time you come back to the court, you're paying the court a filing fee, and you also pay the attorney by the hour to process this. Now sometimes when there's a minor involved, the court will insist upon a dependent administration. So, just to protect the miner.

And so when a dependent administration is involved, the court will have you evaluate what the estate is worth and then they will require the posting of a bond for you to be as a condition of you being appointed as the executor.

The Application for Independent Administration

To be the executor you must be a person who is not disqualified. So if you are adjudicated as incompetent, you are a prior felon, or you are a non-state resident and failed to appoint an in-state resident, you cannot serve.

But you have to, if under the independent administration, which is in the best interest of the estate, as well as the people who are said to inherit, because if you go through the dependent, all of the costs will take away from the ultimate value of your percentage share.

To make sure that you're going to have an independent administration, it's important that all of the heirs consent to: A, the applicant being appointed as the executor of estate and B, as to the independent administration.