Who becomes the owner of the deceased's property?

Prepare for the ATT Law Exam. Practice with multiple choice questions, each providing hints and explanations. Be well-prepared for exam day!

When someone dies, ownership of their assets doesn’t pass directly to beneficiaries. Instead, all of the deceased’s property forms an estate, and a personal representative is appointed to manage it. This person holds legal title to the estate’s assets in their representative capacity, not for their own benefit, and uses them to wrap up the deceased’s affairs—paying debts, taxes, and expenses—before distributing the remaining assets to legatees or heirs in accordance with the will or the rules of intestacy. The personal representative thus becomes the owner of the deceased’s property for the purposes of administration, acting as a fiduciary for creditors and beneficiaries. The court doesn’t own the property, and surviving co-owners may have different rules (such as survivorship) in other contexts, but for the estate itself, the personal representative is the holder of the assets during administration.