The Estate Executor: Are You Up To The Task?
You may think it's a token of the highest respect to select someone to be your estate executor. And it certainly may be. But what you may not think about when you are deciding who among your family and acquaintances is the person most likely to see that your final wishes are honored is the toll that responsibility may take on the individual you select. Being an estate executor is not easy; not is it particularly enjoyable. Those without legal backgrounds may have no idea of what is involved in the probate process, nor that that they may also have to serve as impartial arbiters of disputes between the deceased's heirs. Add to the mix the very real possibility that they themselves are in the midst for grieving for a family member or close friend, and all the while the IRS is looming in the background.
Being an estate executor is not a short-term affair, it can require at least a year of being intimately involved with the financial affairs of the deceased, and sometime far longer. Add to that the acting out which can occur in families and often expresses itself in bitter arguments over who is rightfully entitled to anything the deceased did not earmark in the clearest terms, and a term as an estate executor can seem like an eternity. Finally, an estate executor is considered to be acting as a fiduciary protecting the interests of the estate. That responsibility must be assumed with a burden of liability attached, because estate executors who do not keep meticulous records of their dealings on behalf of the estate may very easily find themselves sued by some disgruntled heir. But if someone dear to your heart asked and you agreed to o take on the job, here are some of the adventures that lie ahead: You'll have to inventory everything the deceased owned from the favorite gold watch and the argyle socks he wore only when playing golf, to the iPod and the investment portfolio. If the decease was a collector of fine things, you'll have to have then appraised. If there are heirs who are not already tugging at your sleeves waiting to inherit, you'll have to find them. Nobody will get anything until all the heirs are accounted for. You may end up needing the services of a private investigating firm if the family has lost touch over the years. You'll need to notify all the institutions with which the deceased had accounts, and your state may also require you to publish notice in the paper to any of the estate's creditors so they can file their claims. You'll need to pay any bills the decedent left, and continue managing any investments the estate has, and keep any real property insured and in good shape. You'll have to file a list of the decedent's property with the probate court and see that what is on it remains in your custody until the estate is closed. You'll have to file the deceases' final personal income tax; if the estate has income, you'll file an estate income tax; and if you don't file the estate income tax within nine month of the deceased's death, you'll be personally liable for any interest and penalties. When all that is squared away, you can distribute what remains as the decedent specified in his or her will. Other than the satisfaction of knowing that you've done a final favor for a loved one, you can expect to receive for your efforts a payment of approximately three percent of the estate's total value, but that varies from state to state. |
