What Does An Executor Do?

If you have a will, and other methods to distribute your estate, you’re in good shape, and have taken a meaningful step towards passing on your property to your beneficiaries.

But even the best estate plan has a problem: property and assets don’t just transfer themselves nor do they magically go into your loved ones’ names, just because you said so in the will. It takes a human being to make that happen—someone to make what you wanted to happen in your estate documents to actually happen.

What an Executor Does

That person is called an executor, and an executor is responsible for administering a will, to make sure that what the will says, actually happens.

You can, in your estate plan, name your executor, so long as that person is not a minor, and has no felony convictions. You can also allow a professional, like an attorney or financial advisor, to be the executor of the will. The executor does not have to be anybody who actually receives anything in your will or estate plan.

An executor does many things, but the primary things that an executor may do includes the following:

• Inventorying all of the deceased’s property—where is it, who has it, and determining the value of that property
• If the property needs to be valued professionally or appraised, the executor will arrange for the proper appraisals
• Getting ahold of any documents that need to be acquired, in order to effectuate transfers of property set forth in the will
• Accounting for the deceased’s debts, and making sure they are paid, or else, if there is a good faith belief that the debt is not valid, the executor may take actions to challenge the debt
• Notifying creditors in any way that the law requires, which may include publication of notice in a public means of communication, like a local newspaper or online
• Finding, and notifying, any beneficiaries who may not be readily available or who may not even know they are a beneficiary to the will.
• Discussing the will and estate documents with the person making it (the testator), as well as any beneficiaries, even before there is any death and thus before the will comes into play.
• Arranging for a funeral, or whatever other procedure or service the deceased wanted
• Securing any physical property that may be at risk, such as homes that have personal property in it, or vehicles where multiple people may have keys, and could take the property
• Contacting any government agencies, to stop payments of benefits to the deceased.

Executors have a fiduciary duty to the estate and the estate’s beneficiaries. Because there are so many responsibilities, many executors wisely get the help of probate or estate law attorneys to assist them in getting the paperwork, and any court orders that may be needed to do their jobs.

Are you an executor and need help? We can help you administer any estate documents that may be required. Call the Torrance probate will and estate attorneys at Samuel Ford Law today.

Sources:

investopedia.com/terms/e/executor.asp#:~:text=An%20executor%20administers%20a%20person’s,their%20will%20or%20trust%20documents.

forbes.com/advisor/mortgages/real-estate/executor-of-estate/