My stepmother left me 2/3rds of her investments and cash.
The executor of the estate has not sent me an inventory of those investments. It has been 8 months in probate in the state of Arizona. I live in California.

I recently requested that he send me documents of those investments, so that I can open an account with the stock market and have the stocks transferred over. He in turn said that probate will end soon and I'll have plenty of time to get my own account set up.

I have a threefold question. I am very concerned about keeping those investments intact, whatever they are, due to the down market.

Does the executor need to liquidate the assets in order to take care of fees, debts, etc and give them to me in cash? Or will they be transferred to my stock portfolio of choice once probate has cleared. I told him I want the latter. Is there a general rule or protocol for the distribution of assets in the form of stocks?

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Originally Posted by Rolling Bunny

My stepmother left me 2/3rds of her investments and cash.
The executor of the estate has not sent me an inventory of those investments. It has been 8 months in probate in the state of Arizona. I live in California.

I recently requested that he send me documents of those investments, so that I can open an account with the stock market and have the stocks transferred over. He in turn said that probate will end soon and I'll have plenty of time to get my own account set up.

I have a threefold question. I am very concerned about keeping those investments intact, whatever they are, due to the down market.

Does the executor need to liquidate the assets in order to take care of fees, debts, etc and give them to me in cash? Or will they be transferred to my stock portfolio of choice once probate has cleared. I told him I want the latter. Is there a general rule or protocol for the distribution of assets in the form of stocks?

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Expenses will come off the top of the ENTIRE estate and then the balance will be distributed.

In NYS at least you can take your distribution in any form you wish - obviously if there are several different stocks some will remain intact and others will have to be liquidated to pay expenses.