In common law

Common law

Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...

 jurisdictions, a personal representative is the generic term for an executor

Executor

An executor, in the broadest sense, is one who carries something out .-Overview:...

 for the estate of a deceased person who left a will or the administrator

Administrator of an estate

The Administrator of an estate is a legal term referring to a person appointed by a court to administer the estate of a deceased person who left no will. Where a person dies intestate, i.e., without a will, the court may appoint a person to settle their debts, pay any necessary taxes and funeral...

 of an intestate estate. In either case, a surrogate court

Surrogate Court

A probate court is a specialized court that deals with matters of probate and the administration of estates....

 of competent jurisdiction issues a finding of fact, including that a will has or has not been filed, and that an executor or administrator has been appointed. These are often referred to as "letters testamentary", "letters of administration" or "letters of representation", as the case may be. These documents, with the appropriate death certificate

Death certificate

The phrase death certificate can describe either a document issued by a medical practitioner certifying the deceased state of a person or popularly to a document issued by a person such as a registrar of vital statistics that declares the date, location and cause of a person's death as later...

 are often the only license a person needs to do the banking, stock trading, real estate transactions and other actions necessary to marshal and dispose of the decedent's estate in the name of the estate itself.

As a fiduciary, a personal representative has the duties of:

1. loyalty
2. candor or honesty
3. good faith.

In the U.S., punctilio of honor, or the highest standard of honor, is the term used to describe the level of scrupulousness that a fiduciary must abide by.

Types of personal representatives include:

• Executor
  Executor
  An executor, in the broadest sense, is one who carries something out .-Overview:...
  
   or executrix (term for females)
• Alternate executor
• Administrator
  Administrator (law)
  In law an administrator can be:* a person appointed by the court to handle the estate of someone who died without a will ....
  
  
• Ancilllary administrator
  Ancillary administration
  Ancillary administration is "the administration of a decedent's estate in a state other than the one in which she lived, for the purpose of disposing of property she owned there." Another definition is the "administration of an estate's asset's in another state." This is often a necessary...
  
  
• Administrator de bonis non
  De bonis non administratis
  De bonis non administratis, Latin for "of goods not administered," is a legal term for assets remaining in an estate after the death or removal of the estate administrator. The second administrator is called the administrator de bonis non and distributes the remaining assets...
  
   - one acting without complete authority
• Public administrator
• Guardian
  Legal guardian
  A legal guardian is a person who has the legal authority to care for the personal and property interests of another person, called a ward. Usually, a person has the status of guardian because the ward is incapable of caring for his or her own interests due to infancy, incapacity, or disability...
  
  
• Conservator

U.S. Department of Defense

In the U.S., the Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants

Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants

The Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants, established in 2004 by the Bush administration's Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, is a United States military body responsible for organising Combatant Status Review Tribunals for captives held in...

 appointed a Personal Representative (CSRT)

Personal Representative (CSRT)

The Personal Representative is an officer who serves before the Combatant Status Review Tribunals, convened for the captives the United States holds in extrajudicial detention in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.-History of the Tribunals:...

 to meet with each captive who was still being held in extrajudicial detention

Extrajudicial detention

Arbitrary or extrajudicial detention is the detention of individuals by a state, without ever laying formal charges against them.Although it has a long history of legitimate use in wartime , detention without charge, sometimes in secret, has been one of the hallmarks of totalitarian states...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

, in August 2004, when the Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

 forced the Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

 to start convening Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunal

The Combatant Status Review Tribunals were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were established July 7, 2004 by order of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense...

s. Such a personal representative is more like a guardian ad litem.