If you are like most people, your life is probably chaotic! Work obligations, social obligations, children's obligations (if any), spending time with loved ones, and simply enjoying some quiet time – life gets busy! And, unless you've hired a personal assistant to help you organize your life, you're probably the one acting as "project manager" to ensure everything runs smoothly.

With life being so busy, it's unlikely that you write down every detail of your life on paper. While you might keep a monthly planner to keep track of dates and times, do you keep a running list of all the streaming services you use? What about every company you pay a bill to (think cell phone service, car payments, news subscriptions, or other online services)? Do you have a list of all these account numbers and other information easily accessible?

It’s not uncommon to keep track of all these things in our own head, or at least in a spot that only you may know the location of. The problem, however, comes when you are no longer here and can no longer rely on your brain to know the details of your life.

This is where the role of an executor comes in! I'll explain what an executor is, what they do, and what attributes to look for when choosing an executor.

What is an Executor?

The executor is the individual you nominate to take care of your affairs after you have passed. Consider this person as the coordinator, or the project manager, of your estate. They are responsible for doing a whole variety of tasks. Here are some of an executor’s obligations.

Inventorying Your Property

The executor will identify all of your belongings. Those may be bank accounts. It might be savings accounts, real estate vehicles, cryptocurrency, intellectual property rights, or anything else you possess with monetary value. The executor is responsible for collecting and inventorying all of those items.

Paying Off Your Bills

They are also in charge of making sure that any bills that come in are paid while your estate is being settled. This could include your cable bill, electric bill, water bill – all these bills will continue after you pass and will need to be paid. Your executor must notify those companies that you no longer need their services.

Other items include unsubscribing from Netflix and any other streaming services or monthly subscriptions. Your executor needs to identify and take action on ALL of these items!

Notifying Creditors

Do you have a mortgage? Credit card debts? Car Payments? Your creditors will need to be notified and paid before any assets you own are distributed.

Paying Your Taxes

Yes, the government will still collect taxes from you for the year that you pass away. Your executor is in charge of making sure your income taxes and property taxes are filed for that year.

This also includes (if it applies to you) taking care of any estate taxes or death taxes.

Determining the Distribution of your Property

Your executor is the one that figures out who will inherit the rest of your estate. If you have named specific individuals, this could be done through the will. If you do not have a will in place, your executor must figure out how to divide the estate – but they don’t just get to choose. It is not their choice but rather their job to determine how your assets will be divided under state law.

For example, let’s say an adult passes away and leaves behind a spouse and two children. Depending on where you live, this person’s estate could go straight to the spouse or be divided between the spouse and two children. Every state is different on how this happens.

The executor is responsible for making sure this happens according to the state’s laws. Frequently, they will need to hire an attorney to help determine what the law says. Other things that a lawyer will work with an executor on include: making sure the will gets filed appropriately in probate and that the executor gets appointed by the court.

What Qualities Should an Executor Possess?

As you can see, the executor has a BIG job! All of the executor's responsibilities take time and require someone who can handle them all. There are a few factors to consider when it comes to selecting someone to serve as executor.

Fiduciary Duty

Executors have a fiduciary duty. When someone has a fiduciary duty, they must act in a way that will benefit someone else, usually financially. This means they need to act in good faith based on the available information, and they need to work with honesty and integrity.

Responsible and Diligent

Being responsible is the most important characteristic that an executor must possess. They must be able to meet the job's demands while paying close attention to detail. It is the executor's responsibility to not only complete the tasks that have been assigned but also to figure out what those tasks are! A court is not going to give your executor a checklist of things to do! It is their job to figure all of this out.

“A court is not going to give your executor a checklist of things to do! It is their job to figure all of this out.”

Good With Money

I recommend that my clients choose someone who is in reasonably good financial standing. The reason for this is that you don't necessarily want to entrust someone with all of your financial decisions (distributing all of your finances, handling your financial accounts, selling your home, and so on) if they aren't the best at managing their own finances, i.e., major creditor issues or gambling problems.

Sensible and REasonable

It would also help if you thought about choosing someone who is grounded or mentally and emotionally stable. You don't want someone who is overly dramatic (like my 8-year-old!). You want to pick someone who isn't going to be upset about how you've decided to distribute things. Someone who can look at the document and say, "Ok, this is what they want, this is how it is," and then act accordingly.

Court Approved

The executor is nominated by you but appointed by the court. This means that the court will either accept or reject your choice. However, it is important to note that each state has different qualifications that may disqualify a person from being an executor. A criminal conviction, felony conviction, or living outside the United States are all things that would disqualify a person. Generally, as long as you choose someone who fits the characteristics mentioned above, the court will not reject them.

Should You Choose Your Spouse?

It is common for people to name their spouse as their executor. I don't typically disagree with this choice because your spouse is usually aware of your affairs and can handle some of the obligations of an executor more readily.

You must, however, keep in mind that your partner will age at the same rate as you. It's more likely that they'll get sick or die before you, making the job of executor harder (or impossible) to do.

I usually advise my clients to name a secondary executor in the event something happens to their primary choice. This person should ideally be younger than you (unless you're 25 and knocking things off your to-do list and being extremely responsible!!).

Final Thoughts

Remember that an executor has a big job to do! When choosing someone for this position, keep in mind that you want someone who is responsible, good with money, and can meet a lot of deadlines. Choosing the right person allows you to rest easy knowing that they will handle everything for you!

If there is a topic you would like me to cover, please drop a comment or contact me!

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