Executors hold an important role in estate planning. They act as the manager of the estate, in essence, which means the burden of many duties falls on their shoulders.
But exactly what duties do executors need to handle? This is a crucial thing to understand before choosing one.
A leading role
Forbes talks at length about the duties of executors. In essence, executors act as the leading and central figures in an estate plan. All other people including attorneys, financial advisors and more will turn to them in order to organize their own duties.
On top of that, the executor will deal with matters related to funeral and burial. They handle how the body gets taken care of, along with setting up any ceremony, celebration of life party or other gathering that the decedent may have wanted.
Handling finances
They handle financial matters, too. Specifically, they continue to pay bills that need upkeep throughout the probate process, such as keeping the electricity on for any properties. They stop bills that no longer serve a purpose, and they also handle the decedent’s final taxes. Finally, they repay any debt remaining.
Dealing with probate
Probate can last years, and they will have to handle it the entire time. Once it is over, their job is still not quite done yet, as they must then hand out the remaining assets of the estate in accordance with the will.
Thus, this is a long and time-consuming, stressful project that will take effort and a large part of a person’s life for a while. People need to consider such matters when naming their executor.
