<p>To those that recently wrote new wills… how did you pick alternate executor for case that both spouses die? Our kids are both 21+ now, and we’ve considered making them co-executors (after both of us gone), since my mom no longer wants the responsibility.</p>
<p>We chose our oldest daughter. She’s more business-minded than the younger daughter. When I asked about how compensation is decided for an executor, we were told that either we can make a stipulation on how much they should be compensated (such as a percentage of the estate), or a court could decide - all the executor has to do is keep track of time spent on the job and expenses incurred and present those to the court.</p>
<p>Maybe it depends on your state – but we had a hard time with the “executor compensation” decision. Our estate attorney was (purposely, I thought) quite vague. He read us the statute on it, then shut up (and it was probably the ONLY time he ever shut up in the eight years we have been working on the estate so it was noticeable!). We ended up going with one rate for “working” on the estate and a lower rate for travel time. In general I consider the rate to be quite low compared to what I make at work or what an attorney’s time would cost! We did not ask the court’s specific permission for a rate – you would hate to do that, just costs attorney time to ask a court anything! And if you are going to ask, your executor may have to wait until near the end to get paid (which can be a long time), as you aren’t in court all the time on most estates. Some estates never actually “go to court”, especially if it is specifically set up to try to avoid probate – ours does so only because it is a supervised estate. Hopefully yours won’t be supervised, as it indicates so much dissension among heirs and personal representatives that the court is going to keep an eye on things.</p>
<p>I do agree that the executor should keep careful track of tasks and hours. In addition to a spreadsheet of hours and Quicken for all financial transactions, I keep a super detailed Word doc with every move I make in case there is a question later… </p>
<p>Colorado_mom, co-executors has pros and cons. A pro is that if there is a lot of work (complex estate), then they can divvy up the work. A con is that a personal representative (what they call executors these days) has to sign off on stuff like sale of property, bank account opening and closing, etc. If you have two people, that doubles the time spent on that. Especially if one is not local, that is a hassle… The estate I am involved in has been complicated by two executors AND both of us living far from each other and the state the deceased lived and died in (so the state that the estate is officially “in”) and also far from the real property (some in the state the deceased lived in, some in yet another state far away, and some in Canada!). It has been ugly… we have had significant travel, postage, and phone expenses. After several years we have a division of labor that works pretty well for us, but we still have to do some things together, and it took us a while to figure out what we could split up. And it does mean you probably incur higher personal representative fees for the estate just because two people then have to be involved in more stuff.</p>
<p>If the kid who lives closest to you is also the most organized and best with financial transactions, you should probably just pick that kid. I have to say I would not wish this job on anyone but a family member…</p>
<p>I’ve been executor and did not take compensation…Didn’t feel right being paid for family business…especially when you are inheriting assets you didn’t earn. I look at it as more of an obligation.</p>
<p>Thanks for the quick feedback! A friend has her kids co-executors (after both parents have passed)… but it seems that could be hard. </p>
<p>Our oldest is most likely to stay local. She is the less organized, less driven of the two kids… but with maturity she has been vastly improving in the past few years. She now has a job where she juggles a lot of data and spreadsheets. So recently I’ve thought she might be the better choice. In our case, insurance payments and big chunk of our assets (like 401K) would pass directly to them 50/50 regardless of will arrangements. </p>
<p>I realize it is possible but highly unlikely for parents to die together. However sometimes 2nd dies before rewriting the will… so trying to think this through.</p>
<p>Wow, all this talking about these matters has made me double-check our records. We’ve named each other as trustee and personal representative. If that fails, we have my brother, followed by my niece (who is an attorney and near in age and friendship to our kids). Both my brother and niece live in our city and are very good at handling details. Both get along very well with my kids.</p>
<p>For my SIL’s estate, the estate attorney recommended an amount for partial payment of the trustee/personal representative and will recommend an additional amount for winding things up. The trustee/personal rep is a friend of the family who has attended law school and has served in this capacity for several other estates to date. He is NOT a beneficiary, but we all get along with and trust him. The fees for both of them seem reasonable enough to all of us, so we have all agreed that these amounts should be paid from the estate. It is pleasant things are being distributed with a good spirit of cooperation and collaboration. I hope that other estates can be similiarly harmoniously distributed.</p>
<p>I honestly have no idea how things are being held for my folks but hope that their CPA and my brother (who practicies with my dad) have a good idea of their assets. I have had a few, very brief conversations about this with dad, where he confidently said that it’s all handled.</p>
<p>H & I still have to go and transfer assets into the trust and correct beneficiaries and powers of attorney and other details. I’ll be very happy when things are done. We are still straightening out title for property where three of the owners have died–one in 1995!</p>
<p>I would like to suggest for everyone to consolidate their accounts, so their heirs wouldn’t have to fill out so many transfer forms. I filled out 15 today and have more to do.</p>
<p>Okay you guys are making me feel guilty. The last time we made a will we still had a guardian for the kids. Our youngest is 28 and about to be a father so I don’t think he needs one. Everything else should be the same though.</p>