Executor Insights

Can you write a will that leaves nothing to your spouse? When this happens, are there any laws to help the disinherited spouse?

What is the most important duty of an executor? Look to the duty the executor owes to the beneficiaries, to the will writer and to the law.

When there are more debts than assets in an estate, it can lead to difficult conversations where communication is key.

Estate attorneys are usually great, but turn to the state bar association if you worry about potential violation of professional duties.

Big life events often prompt us to update important documents like our will, add beneficiaries to our insurance, and update distributions for our retirement accounts.  And much like the old infomercial said, we set it and forget it.  But over the course of years, a lot can change in our lives, including the breakup of…

You’ve done a great job as executor thus far.  You understand your primary duties, and you’ve been working on your executor duties, even completing items in your Executor.org custom plan.  But as you are looking at the estate assets compared with the estate debts, you begin to realize that there are more debts than the…

Serving in the executor role means that you are keeping a lot of records.  Whether it’s tracking your executor expenses, tracking the hours you are working on the executor duties, or tracking estate expenses, you probably have a robust set of spreadsheets, ledgers, and lists. It’s an important part of your executor responsibilities.  But who…

You’ve been an executor, so don’t let all that knowledge of the executor duties go to waste! Take some time after serving in the executor role to plan your own estate.

I’ve heard stories of people writing letters before they die which are not to be opened until death.  Sometimes the letters express love and sometimes they give advice from a life well-lived.  Other times they share bad news–like someone is being excluded in a will or that an estate is worth far less than beneficiaries…