How to Choose an Executor For Your Estate
How to Choose an Executor For Your Estate
With great power comes great responsibility! Choosing the person who will have control over all of your assets once you are incapacitated or pass away is daunting. You may look at it and immediately know who you wish to appoint, however this is no light decision, and you need to weigh on several factors. With that being said, here are six tips on how to choose the right executor for you.
- Trustworthiness
If you are incapacitated or dead, you obviously will not be able to have a say in any important decisions regarding your care and assets. Hence, it is imperative that you trust the person that you do appoint to make the same decisions that you would have made if you were able to.
That will involve having a conversation with the person about whether they feel comfortable taking on the role and explain to them your wishes. Talking about what will happen after you die with a person you are close with is a tricky conversation, but it is one that needs to be had.
- Organisational Skills
Being an executor of an estate is no easy task. It involves a lot of legal documents, careful decisions and multi-tasking. Your executor does not have to have legal experience (that’s what I’m here for) but they need to have the cognitive ability to understand what it is that they are doing and make credible decisions.
- Financial Responsibility
Depending on how large your estate is, your executor may find themselves handling a lot of money. Hence, you need to be absolutely sure that they will do with that money what you wish. Avoid appointing an executor with an active addiction, a poor financial state, any severe mental illnesses or cognitive disabilities, and any history of financial irresponsibility.
- Location
Your executor needs to be able to reach you and your assets in a timely manner because life can take a turn without any warning. Your sister from Paris may fit all of the criteria listed here, but if something was to happen to you and an urgent decision needed to be made that requires her to be with you, she may not be the best choice.
- Ensure All of Your Executors Can Work Together
Some people decide that they want several executors working together, a completely valid choice. If doing so, however, you need to ensure that those executors can cooperate in a productive way with each other. Ensure that they have a good relationship and respect one another, live fairly close so they can convene together and that no arguments will arise.
If you have any questions about appointing an executor, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am here to help.