At Andrews & Arbenz we know how it important it is to ensure that your estate is in order at the time of your passing. It takes careful planning and attention to detail to be sure that your assets go the right people and that your affairs are organized at the time of death. One of the elements that many people neglect in their estate planning is selecting a proper executor of their estate.
An executor is someone who helps fulfill all of the requests stipulated in the last will and testament. These requests can be a variety of tasks depending on how the estate plan was set up. Specifically, the executor has the duty of finding all of the assets owned by the deceased. It is their job to track down and take note of any asset that is not contained within the confines of the estate. For example, if an individual owns a sailboat but did not keep that boat on their property the executor would have to determine the location of the boat if it was not noted in the will.
A secondary duty of the executor is to determine if the estate needs to go to probate court. Hopefully the deceased did a proper job of planning out their estate so that all of their affairs both legal and financial are in order prior to death, thus preventing a trip to probate court. However, if the deceased did not account for all of their assets it may be necessary to have the estate go through the probate court process.
A third duty that the executor has to do is tracking down the individuals that are named in the will. In most cases, the deceased will list family both immediate and long distance that they wish to pass on some form of inheritance to. Most times their contact information is readily available however, if that information is not available the executor will have to find the parties involved so that they can claim their portion of the inheritance.
Selecting in an executor for your estate is a critical piece of your estate planning. You need to be sure you select someone who is trustworthy and of good character. They have a big responsibility in the event of your passing and you want to be sure that they can follow through on all the elements that are critical to your estate. At Andrews & Arbenz we are a Tacoma attorney firm that can help you in your estate planning situation and help you consider all the facts in making sure that your estate is in order.