Excecutor of an estate

When someone asks you if you can do it.
Take a good look at the people in their family it only natural to say to your friend yes you will do it because its your friend. But after he is gone you have to deal with a bunch of low live money hungry family members.
Ask for a copy of his will and read it over first to make sure that it is clear and to the point.
Get a Lawyer and an accountant and you record every thing down to the last min.
I'm just passing year two of a rats nest and I did not know that he had listed me as second choice I told him not to but I guess he figured if the first one quits I would be strong enough to deal with.
Money does funny things to people

Sea Q said:

Money does funny things to people

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Ain't that the truth!!!

David

As a retired Estate attorney (among other hats) I'm so happy I am retired and don't have to deal with this stuff anymore.

FWIW, at least in Maine, you can decline to accept appointment as Executor and save yourself a lot of grief unless you are perfectly comfortable accepting the position.

dwhatty said:

As a retired Estate attorney (among other hats) I'm so happy I am retired and don't have to deal with this stuff anymore.

FWIW, at least in Maine, you can decline to accept appointment as Executor and save yourself a lot of grief unless you are perfectly comfortable accepting the position.

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I would expect that to be the case in any state. How can someone force you to do that if he either never asked you, or you said no if he did?

If the estate is large enough you can hire people to do the work and still take your fee. Still there will be headaches dealing with people.

I'm administrator of a huge estate from a relative.
She passed away 3 years ago, without nothing than a trust. Took all my time and effort work slowly my path trough surrogate NY court.
Add at that 2 open case against previous guardian and believe me, it's a little nightmare...
Estate is huge and demand almost all my time, I work with lawyers and administrator. The fact a big part of the estate is out USA, add more stress at cause.
I think everything is gonna be end next year..
Last time on my life... Please! clean your mess before pass away!!

We are just involved in something like this, never new all the legalities, figured it was oh the WILL says this, divide it up and on our way, wow talk about naive...

From what we learned we are now setting up a trust so at least our kids won't be paying bills for a year before the estate gets settled.

Good idea on the trust another way is a joint cheq account.
I paid the bills for 6 months before i had probate and could access the estates money.
when i found out Probate was $18 k i had the lawyer forced the bank to pay that.
I just don't know why the beneficiary s think that the executor (usually the best friend of the departed ) is trying to steal their money.
At least this has taught me to make sure you clean up certain things before you die ---------------Unless you plan to live forever

In Florida a trust will avoid probate which is a big advantage. Estate law has grown into a very complicated and expensive practice, having a great estate plan done prior to death can save a lot of money and trouble to your heirs. Find a good estate attorney, you usual attorney is not cabable of estate law.

I saw no mention of the executor insisting on the estate paying for a bond covering the executor. Isn't that a good idea?

I have been the "executor" for two states and never figured I need a bond on me.

I just finished reading "Bleak House" by Charles Dickens. Not his very best, in my opinion, but it is Dickens, after all -- "not his very best" means it is still a very good story!

The book centers around people who are involved in a never-ending lawsuit. Dickens does not have a very high opinion of lawyers.

Denver

Most people don't until you need one!