Being named as the Executor of a loved one's estate is both an honor and a significant legal responsibility. By selecting you to serve in this role, the Testator has expressed confidence in your judgment, integrity, and ability to carry out their final wishes. While many people assume an Executor's responsibilities begin and end with distributing assets, estate administration is considerably more involved and may include managing legal, financial, and administrative matters while complying with …
Estate Administration Basics
When you get start to think about estate planning in earnest, you are naturally going to consider how you want to slice up the pie as it were. After you have made your decisions, you will be executing a will or a trust to direct the asset transfers. You should understand the estate administration process before you make a decisions with regard to the asset transfer vehicle. The choices that you make will impact the inheritance distributions, and you should understand the tasks that must be …
Did the SECURE Act Affect Your Estate Plan?
One of the reasons why you should view estate planning as an ongoing process is because laws can be changed and new ones can be enacted. Some of the changes can impact your estate plan. This scenario unfolded at the end of 2019 when the SECURE Act was enacted. This measure impacted a widely utilized estate planning strategy called the “stretch IRA.” We will look at the implications here, but first, we have to provide an explanation of how individual retirement accounts work in a general …
Estate Administration Can Be Simplified With a Living Trust
Probate is the legal process of estate administration. It exists to provide a window of opportunity for creditors to seek satisfaction from a deceased individual. Another purpose of probate is to offer a forum for anyone that may want to contest a will. These protections are useful from an overview, but if you are in line for an inheritance, probate is not necessarily a positive thing. One of the pitfalls of the probate process is the time factor. No inheritances can be distributed by the …
A Living Trust Can Provide Streamlined Estate Administration
People often think of estate planning as an exercise in document creation. Indeed, you have to execute a last will or some type of trust to express your final wishes in a legally binding manner. This being stated, it is also important to consider the estate administration process, because someone has to make sure that all of your assets are distributed in accordance with your wishes. If you were to use a last will, you would name an executor to act as the trust administrator. This can be a …
Have You Considered the Estate Administration Process?
The process of estate administration is sometimes overlooked by people who are just trying to take care of the basics. You certainly have to use legal documents to state your wishes in writing in a legally binding manner, but there is also a human element that is extremely important. When you create these documents, you are leaving instructions, but who is going to follow these instructions? You can carefully select the person or entity that will handle the estate administration tasks when you …
How Is My Last Will Handled After I Die?
The legal document called a last will or last will and testament is the most commonly used estate planning device. You can state your wishes regarding asset distributions in a will, but you should be aware of the estate administration process that will come into play. When you create a last will, you name an executor or executrix. This is the person who will handle the business of the estate after you are gone. An executor is a male estate administrator, and an executrix is a female who has …
Who Administers My Living Trust When I Die?
One of the nice things about a revocable living trust is the fact that you can maintain control of the actions of the trust while you are living. As the trust creator, you can also serve as the trustee, and you can act as the beneficiary as well. This can raise a question: What happens after you pass away? Who would administer the trust then? As the grantor of the trust, you answer these questions. Successor Trustee When you create the trust, you put together a trust declaration. This …
What Is Estate Administration?
When you think about estate planning, you may picture the creation of legally binding documents. This is certainly part of the equation, because you have to record your final wishes in writing. At the same time, estate administration is another factor to take into consideration. Last Wills If you use a last will, the estate administrator is the executor or executrix. An executor is a male who serves this role, and an executrix is a female. You would name your executor or executrix in your …
How Should I Choose My Executor?
Estate administration is something that is overlooked by many people, but there is certainly a human element that you should carefully consider when you are devising your estate plan. You will use legal documents to state your wishes, but an estate administrator must take action after your passing to bring these wishes to fruition. If you use a last will as your primary vehicle of asset transfer, this person will be the executor of the estate. This position is not an honorary or ceremonial …
Are You Choosing a Trustee?
The anatomy of a trust involves the selection of a beneficiary or beneficiaries and a trustee. As the name implies, the beneficiary benefits from the resources that have been conveyed into the trust. The trustee is empowered to manage and administer the funds that have been placed into the trust. There are various different types of trusts, but we would like to look at the revocable living trust here. With these trusts you as the grantor may serve as both the trustee and the beneficiary while …
What Is an Executor?
You should consider the postmortem process when you are planning your estate. It is true that estate planning involves executing legally binding documents that leave behind instructions. But at the same time, someone must follow these instructions to make your wishes become a reality. When you are using a last will to arrange for the transfer of your property this person is the executor. What Does the Executor Do? The executor has a range of estate administration duties that must be performed …
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