How to Choose the Right Executor for Your Estate Plan

Ensuring your future, even once you are gone, is an important part of financial planning. Finding an executor for your estate plan is a vital step in making sure that all of your assets go to who you intend them to go to. This person will be in charge of your finances, personal affairs, and private documents, so they must be trustworthy. Below is a guide on how to choose the right executor for your estate plan. 

Organizational Skills

Creating an estate plan and getting all of your affairs in order is no small task. When choosing an executor, you should pick someone who has a well-organized brain. You should also choose a person who has a history of sorting through paperwork like this for other people. That means they will be familiar with how to organize your documents correctly so that there is no chance of confusion when the time comes to divvy up your assets to your surviving family members. 
 

In addition to getting your affairs in order, an executor may also have to keep track of bills and taxes that need to be paid and debts that need to be settled. Keeping an organized list of what needs to be done on your behalf after your passing is essential so that your descendants are not left with any of your burdens. 

Trustworthiness

It is extremely important to find someone who you trust wholeheartedly to run your affairs. The quest for someone qualified to handle your estate may take a while as you meet people and earn their trust. Locally run businesses like Pennington Law, PLLC have years of experience with staff equipped to handle any estate plans, no matter how complicated. It is best to find an executor who has your best interests at heart and who will work hard to make sure everything is in order and will continue to update and check up on things as the years go on. Building a relationship and a rapport with an executor before bringing them on full-time is fine so that you can ensure that they are the right fit for you. 

Financial Expertise

Although an executor does not need to be an accountant or any other kind of financial wizard, they should at least have a well-versed understanding of the calculations that need to be made to clear up any financial issues that may arise in your estate plan. A lot of managing an estate includes paying bills, allocating funds, and handling investments, so an executor should have an understanding of how to do these functions correctly so that no money is lost or misallocated. Keeping track of all of these financial transactions is another crucial part of running an estate, so make sure to find someone who is meticulous in jotting down and saving histories of financial transactions. 

Impartiality

Making an estate plan can be difficult, especially if you have a certain amount of wealth and a number of family members who are on the list to receive that wealth when you pass. It is important to find an executor of your estate who will stay impartial when it comes to your affairs. When it comes down to it, the executor should only make decisions based on your wishes, not based on being swayed by certain beneficiaries. If you find someone who has a firm moral standing and a strong backbone, then you should not worry about them being bribed or convinced to do something against what you have set in stone in your estate plan.

Legal Knowledge

Similar to financial knowledge, legal knowledge is also a good asset to have as an executor because there may be many occasions in which they will have to read over legal paperwork. Some people even hire lawyers to be their executors because they are good at organizing paperwork and ensuring that all necessary procedures are being done correctly.

Availability and Willingness

Even if you want someone to be your executor, it is ultimately their decision if they want to take on the responsibility. Being an executor can be very time-consuming and stressful, so it is important to find someone who is available for the amount of time you need them and is willing to take on the task of handling your estate and all that comes with it. Availability also applies to proximity. It is better to have an executor who lives near you so that they do not have to travel every time something needs to be resolved with your estate.  

Factors to Consider

Family Dynamics

If your family has a history of fighting over your estate, it is important for an executor to be aware of the dynamics. Assess the relationship that your executor may have with your family members to make sure that they can remain a neutral party even when things heat up. You will not be around forever, so discussing these tensions with your executor beforehand and warning them about the potential plotting is helpful.

Backup Plans

Even if you work for years with an executor and you have full trust in them, things can happen that may lead to the need for a backup plan. If you end up outliving your executor or they retire before you go, having a trusted backup executor is a good plan. This could be a trusted colleague of your executor or another trusted figure in your life who can stay impartial with your beneficiaries and keep everything organized and running smoothly.

Legal Formalities

Once you have selected the perfect executor for your estate plan, make sure to draw up the legal paperwork to make it official. Life is short and you never know what is coming, so making sure that you have legal documentation that proves that your chosen person is your executor is of the utmost importance.

Finding the perfect executor for your needs is the best way to ensure that all of your affairs will be well taken care of when you are gone. Although thinking about one’s mortality is not a fun activity, being proactive about your finances and assets so that you don’t leave a mess is important.