If you attend a Solicitor to make a Will, one of the first questions you will be asked is “Who will you appoint as your Executor or Executors?”
An executor is the person appointed by a Will to administer your estate. The executor has a serious obligation to carry out your wishes as expressed in your Will and more than one executor can be appointed in a will. An executor should be an adult.
Appointing a minor as an executor creates specific difficulties and is not wise. It is also not appropriate to appoint a person as your executor if that person suffers from a disability which prevents him or her from administering the estate.
Appointing a person as an executor places serious obligations upon that person to comply with the requirements of the law in the administration of your estate. A failure by the executor to carry out their duty may see them personally liable. The executor actually stands in your place and disposes of property as directed by you.
If more than one executor is to be appointed, then it is essential that those executors are not hostile to one another. Hostility between executors can result in difficulties in the administration of the estate.
Unless there is cooperation between executors, decisions which otherwise would be simple become arduous. Sons and daughters who don’t speak to one another are not good choices as executors.
In the simple estate, it is preferable that the executor has been a part of the deceased’s life.
We are all aware of people who flow in and out of our lives from time to time; important today not so important tomorrow. But there are those who are always there.
The “always there” person will be the preferable executor. You can be confident that person will be making the decisions that you would have made if you were there to make them.
More complex estates may require professional expertise in the role of executor. In this situation there can be both the “always there” person and the professional so that the executors have a mix of the personal and the professional combined in the management of the estate.
It is the executor who approaches the Court and seeks confirmation that the document presented is your last Will. When that confirmation is given by the Court (which is known as Probate) the executor receives the authority to deal with your assets in accordance with your Will as if you were there dealing with them yourself.
An inexperienced Lawyer will simply accept who you say is to be your executor without asking any questions about their capacity or expertise. The experienced Estate Lawyer will assist you to appoint the appropriate executo for you and your estate.
