What an executor actually does

The executor is the person you name in your Will to carry it out — gathering the assets, settling the debts, and distributing what is left. Some states call the role the personal representative, and the two mean exactly the same thing.

It is a real job, usually lasting about a year, and it is worth understanding before you hand it to someone.

The job, in order

1. Find the Will and file it

   Courts are notified promptly, and in many states the Will has to be lodged within a set period of learning of the death whether or not it governs. This is the step that goes wrong when nobody knows where the Will is kept.

2. Get legal authority to act

   The court issues the document that lets them act for the estate. Before that, an executor cannot sell anything or close an account.

3. Identify and protect the assets

   Accounts secured, insurance premiums kept up, the house locked and insured, pets fed. As a practical matter this is the urgent part, and it starts before the paperwork catches up.

4. Notify the people who need to know

   Beneficiaries, heirs and known creditors, and often a published notice as well.

5. Value the estate

   Every asset is valued as of the date of death, and the record is kept.

6. Pay the debts, expenses and taxes

   Funeral costs, mortgages, cards, medical bills and any tax filing. Getting this wrong in either direction — paying the wrong person, or distributing before the debts are settled — is what exposes an executor personally.

7. Distribute what remains, and account for it

   Follow the Will, keep receipts, and provide a final accounting. The executor’s fee, where one is claimed, is usually set by state law or by the Will.

What the role does not require

• The executor does not need to be a lawyer, an accountant, or a local. An adult child in another state is the usual choice.
• They can hire professional help — a lawyer to file, an accountant for the final return — and in most states those fees are paid by the estate rather than by the executor personally.
• They do not have to accept. Someone can be named in the Will and decline, which is the reason to name an alternate.
• They are not personally responsible for the estate’s debts, only for acting honestly and following the Will.

Choosing one

The usual answer is a spouse or an adult child, and the thing to weigh is not affection but temperament. The job is paperwork, patience and phone calls, and the qualities that matter are reliability and a willingness to keep records.

If the people you would choose are also the people who benefit, that is normal and not a conflict of interest — but their expenses should be documented.

Whoever you name should know that they were named, and should know where the Will is kept. An executor who finds out at the funeral starts weeks behind, and the first weeks are exactly when the bills and the mortgage are still arriving. It is also worth reading what the court process involves, because most of the list above happens under it.

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