Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maryland

Neither an attorney nor any other person acting as a fiduciary has any obligation to up-front money out of their own funds. Estate expenses should be covered by estate assets.

In practice, if an estate has no liquid assets a fiduciary or heir might loan the estate money to cover initial costs and get reimbursed once those assets are sold. Alternatively the Personal Representative might seek financing from a bank or other lender and ask them to make a loan to the estate.

As far as attorney fees / personal representative commissions go, it is customary to wait to get paid until the estate settles. An attorney handling an estate should at least wait until assets are sold and the estate has something to disburse before petitioning the court for attorney fees / personal representative commission.