Thanks @BobKamman for your reply.   You are correct, I don't "have" to file the 1041, but to be safe, we are going to file.   Also, the attorney is telling me that the court requires the final tax return to be filed before they will "close out the probate estate".

I asked the attorney for beneficiary information so we could provide the K-1s showing the loss.  The attorney has contacted the beneficiaries and given them a deadline to provide their information.   None of the beneficiaries are interested in receiving a K-1 showing a loss, so the attorney wants to wrap this up by filing a zero tax return and not issuing K-1s.

I'm unsure what date to use as the date the estate was created.

Thank you for your input!