The petition for probate and letters. It files the will if there is one, asks the court to appoint the executor or administrator, and asks for the letters that banks and title companies accept as proof of authority. Some states fill an official form; others draft the petition from the statute.
When the estate's value is under the state's small estate limit and the state's waiting period after death has passed. The affidavit is presented to the bank or holder of the property, or in some states filed with the court, in place of a full probate. The builder checks the estate against your state's limit before it produces the document.
The notice to creditors, published and mailed to known creditors, which starts the claim period; the estate inventory, listing the estate's property at date of death values; and, at the end, the estate closing packet, which is the state's closing statement, final account, or petition for discharge.
An estate is a separate taxpayer from the person who died. It needs its own employer identification number to open an estate account and to file an estate income tax return. The EIN application prepares IRS Form SS-4 for an estate or a trust.
The letter of instruction is addressed to a specific bank, brokerage, or insurer and follows that institution's published claim process and document list. The digital assets recovery letter does the same for an online service's program for a deceased user's account. Both are keyed to the institution or program rather than the state.