The Honor and the Headache of Being an Executor

We're going to talk about an estate situation of somebody being named an executor.

So you're named an executor.

Now what? So the honor and the headache of being an executor, what nobody tells you about being an executor.

An executor obviously is named in your will.

So everybody that has a will has named an executor, that person's kind of in charge to settle the estate out, right? And it's a big responsibility, right? And some people might not want to do it or aren't capable of doing it.

So Being named the executor can feel like an honor, but it also feels like a lot of pressure.

It's handing out the inheritances.

It's doing a lot of paperwork.

It's taking inventory of all the accounts.

It's paying taxes, settling property, dealing with creditors potentially, and also the family dynamics.

It could happen over a couple months or even years.

So a lot of clients end up in this role without even planning to, and we're often the call they make to say, hey, help me through this, and how can you help me get this done? When a client finds out that they've been named an executor, what does the first conversation with them usually sound like, Trent?

Well, most of the time, most people have no idea what the role actually involves until they're in it.

And again, we're not giving legal advice here, but what we do when we find out that someone is appointed as an executor is try to give them direction on how to handle it.

Part of the job early on is helping them understand the scope, you know, documents, maybe assets, getting a full inventory of that.

Probate.

What is probate? Talk about taxes, timeline.

You know, what's the expectations on how long all this is going to take?

you know, trying to lay it all out without overwhelming, you know, the client

or the person that we're trying to assist, whether they be a prospect or whatever, from that standpoint, just trying to educate the individual and making sure that they're comfortable in that role.

Because like you said, it is a, it's a very important role, but it's also, again, can be very fulfilling, but it's also very difficult at some points.

And you just got to step back, breathe and get through it and understand you got plenty of time to get this done.

But This is also where it becomes clear whether an estate attorney is already involved or whether one actually needs to be appointed to you, or maybe we refer someone to that individual.

It's worth clarifying the misconceptions about...

You know, what kinds of things pass through a will and what follows, you know, a certain path and what been who who the beneficiaries are as well.