Possibly the estate could sell the stocks send you the proceeds, which they can do without capital gains tax due to the well known "step up in basis" that is a big help to heirs.
I will be coming into a somewhat larger inheritance this spring or whenever my mother's estate is settled (which seems to be taking forever since she passed away last September 30th). In our case, the estate is uncontested and was left in trusts to be divided equally between my brothers and me. However the banks where the trusts were, Bank of Hawaii and First Hawaiian Bank, seem to be loathe to get off the "gravy train" of their exorbitant fees, and at any rate they are slowing things down with every excuse in the book.
My brother, the executor, is flying out there next week to pound on their desks with our lawyer in tow.
Meanwhile, I am glad for the time so that I can figure out what to do with the money. Like you, my only real prior investing was in the TSP and a little in my Roth IRA, so I am making it my business to learn fast! I intend to put it into Vanguard Prime Money Market when I first get it. I opened a Vanguard account and uploaded some of my own money to Vanguard Prime MM, and then transferred some of that to an investment (Vang. 500) so that I feel comfortable with moving money to Vanguard and within Vanguard.
My mother and father worked hard for many years to accumulate this money and I am determined not to let it slip through my fingers out of ignorance. So, I am trying to educate myself and you will probably want to do the same. You need to give yourself a "crash course" in investing. There is a huge amount to learn. Somewhere on this website is a list of books. So far the best ones that I have bought are Bernstein's Four Pillars of Investing (boring but very necessary to get the right investment outlook) and Swedloe's The Only Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need (more interesting and practical, in my opinion), and have studied them to death. There are other books that I intend to buy shortly. Another forum that many of us also read, that is more focused on investment advice, is the Boglehead's forum:
Bogleheads :: Index
so that forum is worth browsing and reading on. You have some decisions to make concerning asset allocation and then specific funds that will help you to realize that asset allocation.
Good luck and make wise choices!