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What
Does An Executor Do? Settling an estate,
in or out of probate court.
It's both an honor and a burden to serve as someone's
executor. An executor is entrusted with responsibility for
winding up someone's earthly affairs — a big or little
task, depending on the situation. Essentially, an executor
is charged with protecting a deceased person's property
until all debts and taxes have been paid, and seeing that
what's left is transferred to the people who are entitled to
it.
The law does not require an executor (also called a personal
representative) to be a legal or financial expert, but it
does require the highest degree of honesty, impartiality,
and diligence. This is called a "fiduciary duty" — the duty
to act with scrupulous good faith and honesty on behalf of
someone else.
Executors have a number of duties, depending on the
complexity of the deceased person's financial and family
circumstances. Typically, an executor must:
- Find the deceased person's assets and manage them
until they are distributed to inheritors. This may
involve deciding whether to sell real estate or
securities owned by the deceased person.
- Decide whether or not probate court proceedings are
needed. Most jointly owned assets pass to the surviving
owner, without probate. And if the deceased person's
property is worth less than a certain amount (how much
depends on state law), it may be able to go through a
streamlined probate process.
- Figure out who inherits property. If the deceased
person left a will, the executor will read it to
determine who gets what. If there's no will, the person
in charge (sometimes called the administrator) will have
to look at state law (called "intestate succession"
statutes) to find out who the deceased person's heirs
are.
- File the will (if any) in the local probate court.
Generally, this step is required by law, even if no
probate proceeding will be necessary.
- Handle day-to-day details. This may
include terminating leases and credit cards, and
notifying banks and government agencies — such as the
Social Security Administration, the post office,
Medicare, and the Department of Veterans Affairs — of the death.
- Set up an estate bank account. This account will
hold money that is owed to the deceased person — for
example, paychecks or stock dividends.
- Use estate funds to pay continuing expenses. The
executor may need to pay, for example, utility bills,
mortgage payments, and homeowner's insurance premiums.
- Pay debts. If there is a probate proceeding, the
executor must officially notify creditors of it,
following the procedure set out by state law.
- Pay taxes. A final income tax return must be filed,
covering the period from the beginning of the tax year
to the date of death. State and federal estate tax
returns are required only for large estates.
- Supervise the distribution of the deceased person's
property. The property will go to the people or
organizations named in the will or those entitled to
inherit under state law.
To learn about these duties in more detail, and get
step-by-step advice on how to wrap up an estate, read The
Executor's Guide: Settling a Loved One's Estate or Trust, by
Mary Randolph (Nolo).
© 2010 Nolo
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