The appointment of an executor in your estate is a crucial component of an ensuring that there will be someone there to handle estate administration tasks when something happens to you. It is equally important to understand this role within your individual state and the requirements aligned with it if you have been named as an executor in someone else’s estate.
When a person passes away, there are some final affairs that must be properly addressed both within the court system and with the beneficiaries of that person’s estate. U.S. states handle this by appointing or approving an executor. The executor in some states is called a personal representative, but generally plays the same kind of role with closing out an estate.
The main tasks of an executor is to close out the final affairs of a decedent, collect the assets and then distribute any remaining assets to creditors or beneficiaries. While this might seem simple, it’s actually a lot of work for some executors managing big or complicated estates. That’s why the selection of this person should be something you approach with care and something the chosen party is comfortable with taking on.
There are a number of key stages that most executors take an estate through, beginning with:
- Filing the last will and testament.
- Collecting all of the assets in an inventory.
- Valuing those assets.
- Establishing records and bookkeeping.
- Paying any debts of the decedent.
- Investing assets.
- Preparing and filing tax returns.
- Distributing remaining assets to beneficiaries.
For more information about this process, schedule a time to meet with an estate planning lawyer in Pasadena.
