Estate planning is a very difficult thing to manage. Most of the duties outlined within it end up left to the same person, too: the executor of the estate.
What exactly does an executor do? What are their duties and responsibilities?
Central role of executors
Forbes discusses the role an executor plays in an estate plan. An executor essentially controls and maintains just about every aspect of an estate plan after the death of its writer.
First, they will manage affairs related to the funeral. They handle how the body will get treated and presented after death, along with organizing any funeral ceremonies.
They also have contact with every other professional who had worked with the individual before their death. This includes any accountants, attorneys, financial advisors or experts and more. It is the executor’s job to keep everyone on the same page and ensure that all jobs get finished in a timely fashion.
This includes financial matters like shutting off unnecessary bills, continuing to pay the necessary ones, managing the estate until probate finishes, repaying debts and handling final taxes.
The skills they have
In short, the person handling executorial responsibilities should have time management skills, organizational skills, the ability to manage and lead himself or herself without any outside guidance, quick thinking and creative thinking.
They also need the emotional capability to handle their own grief on top of all of this, especially since they will have to communicate with grieving family members as well when it comes time to dole out assets.
It is quite a large responsibility to rest on anyone’s shoulders, so the person chosen should have what it takes to make the cut.