When someone is making an estate plan, they choose someone to be their estate administrator or estate executor. The estate plan does provide guidelines and instructions that need to be followed by family members and beneficiaries. It is the estate administrator who goes through this process and ensures that everything happens correctly.
It’s important to understand what types of tasks this person may carry out when deciding who to choose. Here are a few potential responsibilities an estate executor may have.
Dealing with paperwork
First of all, there is paperwork that needs to be submitted or obtained. An example of this would be that the executor needs to get a death certificate and needs to file the will on behalf of the other individual. This has to be done with the probate court.
Providing notification
Certain parties will be need to be notified of the death. This starts with the government, family members and other beneficiaries who may need copies of specific paperwork. But notification may also be need to be given to different institutions, like life insurance providers or financial institutions.
Handling the assets
Furthermore, the estate executor just has to deal with the assets that have been left behind. Some of these are tangible, and some may be financial. The executor is in charge of making an inventory and then distributing these assets to the correct parties. If the estate has remaining debts, such as property taxes or credit card debts, the executor also uses the funds from the estate to pay off what is owed.
These are certainly not all of the responsibilities of an estate executor, but they are a good place to start. Those involved need to know their legal obligations.