You folks have provided great advice in the past so I thought I’d ask something else. As many of you know, I lost my 23 year old son last December as a result of a car accident. I’ve been appointed “Administrator” of his estate (he had no will obviously). He essentially has two “assets” in his estate worth mentioning: a 401k of a few thousand dollars from his summer job and a fairly significant insurance claim payout (he wasn’t driving in the accident). Now that I’m working the mechanics of his estate, I need to (1) file his taxes for last year where all he has is a W-2 from his summer job; no interest or other complications and (2) figure out his tax stuff for his estate this year with the two assets, minor expenses such as court fees and bond fee, and the tax and penalties for cashing out his IRA early. Seems pretty simple though the court said “you may want to get a CPA to help you with that”. I asked them if I needed one even though it seemed simple, and they said that I “may be able to figure it out myself. Maybe talked to the IRS”. I’ve never used a CPA because my taxes have always been pretty simple. Do they charge by the hour like a lawyer? My divorce lawyer was hundreds of dollars an hour. Do you find one in Yelp? Are there “walk-in” offices where IRS people can help advise on something like this? Can Liberty Tax help? Is there a “LegalZoom” for Virginia? I just want to get this over with – every time I touch something having to do with his estate it crushes me. Any advice would be helpful.