When you create an estate plan, one important step is to choose an estate administrator or estate executor. Once you pass away, this person is in charge of distributing documents, inventorying assets, paying taxes and taking other necessary steps to settle your affairs and follow the instructions in your estate plan.
So who should you choose for this critical role? Below are a few tips that can help you decide.
Consider education and technical knowledge
First of all, this can be a technical and difficult job, involving complex financial transactions and documentation. If you know someone who has an advanced education or experience and technical knowledge in this area, that can be very helpful and may make it easier than it would be for someone who has never encountered these types of challenges before.
Find someone who will be available
You also want to consider the person’s lifestyle, their schedule, where they live and whether they will actually be available when needed. Someone who is in the military may not be the ideal choice, for example, because they could be deployed when they are needed to act as your estate executor.
Choose someone who is willing
Talk to the person you want to select in advance. It is a big responsibility. You need to make sure that they are actually willing and able to take it on.
Select someone you trust to be impartial
Finally, the estate administrator’s job is to follow the instructions in the plan as they relate to your beneficiaries. They will need to make impartial decisions, so you want to be confident that they will act in a fair and just way, rather than prioritizing their own best interests.
Once you have decided who you want to choose as your estate administrator, it can help to work with an experienced law firm to create your estate plan and get all of the documentation in place.