A trusts and estates group at a multi-office firm opens dozens of probate files at any given time. The inventory is the document that holds each one together. It lists what the decedent owned and what it was worth, and every later step in the file refers back to it. Following one inventory from beginning to end shows where an agent can draft and where the group's attorneys and paralegals must stay in charge.
The first call
A family member calls the intake coordinator. The coordinator records the decedent's name, the date of death, the county, the people involved and what the family believes the estate contains. The agent turns these notes into a structured intake summary and a first checklist of documents to request: the will, death certificates, account statements, deeds, vehicle titles, policy declarations. The coordinator checks the summary against the call. An attorney decides whether the firm will take the matter.
The document request
The agent drafts a personalized list for the family, in plain language, naming only what that estate is likely to hold. It drafts the letters to financial institutions requesting date of death balances. A supervised paralegal reviews each letter, adds the signature page and sends it. The agent keeps the tracker: what was asked for, from whom, on what date, and what has come back.
Documents arrive
Statements and deeds come in by mail, by upload and by email, in every orientation and quality. The agent reads each one, files it under the matter, extracts the institution, the account type, the date and the balance, and enters the item in the draft inventory. It cites the page each entry came from. Where a scan is unreadable or a figure conflicts with another document, the entry is marked rather than guessed.
The draft inventory
By this point the draft lists real property, bank and investment accounts, vehicles, personal property the family described and any items the documents suggest but do not confirm. The paralegal walks the draft against the source documents, resolves each flagged line and asks the family about the gaps. This is the longest stretch of human work in the file, and it is the stretch the agent has made more orderly, not removed. The paralegal knows which accounts pass outside the estate, and also knows when the documents are lying.
Attorney review
The responsible attorney reviews the inventory before anything is filed or shared. The agent assembles the review packet: the inventory, the source index, the list of open questions and the assets that pass outside probate, shown separately. The attorney decides how to classify each asset, how to value the unusual ones and what goes to the court. The agent offers no legal advice and takes no position on valuation.
Filing and the family letter
The agent prepares the filing package from the approved inventory, using the forms your group keeps for that county's court. It also drafts the letter that explains the inventory to the family in everyday words. The attorney or the supervised paralegal reviews both. Nothing reaches a family or a court without that review.
The long middle
Between the inventory and the close of the file sit creditor claims, tax matters, distributions and the sale of assets. Each of these updates the inventory. The agent keeps the running version, shows what changed and when, and carries the changes into the accounting. When a beneficiary asks where the estate stands, the staff member answering has the current figures open and the source behind each one.
The closing letter
When the last distribution is made, the agent drafts the closing letter and the final summary from the record. The attorney reads it, signs it and sends it. The agent then assembles the closed file index so that the records team can apply the firm's retention schedule without opening every folder.
What the walk shows
At no step did the agent decide something that belonged to an attorney. It built the lists, read the documents, kept the tracker and drafted the letters. The people in the group kept the judgment, the signature and the conversation with the family. Tracing a single inventory is a good test for any group considering an agent. If the group can say at every stage who reviews the output, it is ready.