What is this?

You have been invited to an estate on The Estate Path, and may be wondering what it is and why you were invited to this site.

The Estate Path is a workspace for organizing the affairs of someone who has died, or a trust, and for letting the people connected with an estate track and organize the details of that estate. You will have been invited to this site either because you are a beneficiary of the estate, or because you are a trustee, executor, or co-executor of the estate. The Estate Path keeps the details, the people, and the papers together in one place. It is an organizational aid. Questions about what a will requires, or how property should be titled, belong with an attorney or another qualified professional.

Estate

In The Estate Path, an estate refers to the workspace for a particular person's affairs: the details, contacts, documents, and tasks gathered there. Each estate stays separate from any other estate in the app.

Estate administrator

The person who created an estate workspace. They signed up for The Estate Path and chose to keep this estate here. They can change what is in it. "Estate administrator" is The Estate Path's name for that role in the workspace. It is separate from a title in a will or a court order. They are likely the executor or trustee of the estate. And they are likely the person who invited you to the estate to help them with the estate or to communicate with you about the estate.

Collaborator

Someone an estate administrator has given collaborator access. A collaborator can look through the estate and mark an assignment complete when it is theirs. They cannot change the estate's records, and they cannot see shares and distributions. Access is separate from being a spouse, trustee, or executor.

Invitation

The link itself. The estate administrator sends it to you. The message is from that person. They sent it so you can see this estate. The administrator is the one who chose to use The Estate Path. The link is how they include you.

The next article explains what to expect when you open the link.