I was quoted in a recent New York Times article on How To Choose the Right Executor for Your Estate, by Deborah Jacobs. An executor is the person responsible for administering the distribution of your estate after you pass away.
Most people think first of naming a family member, especially a spouse or child, as executor. The advantage of this is that your next of kin presumably understands your intentions better than anybody and can readily find the assets that need to be inventoried.
When clients don’t have an obvious family member to choose, Leanna Hamill, a lawyer and specialist in elder law in Hingham, Mass., suggests they make a list of everyone they know and then whittle it down to trusted friends. Still, the options narrow as people outlive their contemporaries.
The article has a lot of good suggestions about how to select an executor, which is not always an easy process for people. Things like feeling a sense of obligation to someone, not wanting to hurt people’s feelings or trying to treat all of your children equally can complicate the process down the road when action needs to be taken.
Take a few minutes to read the article, then set aside some time to work through your choice for executor. You mind find that the people you initial thought of choosing aren’t the right choice after all, or that an overlooked acquaintance turns out to be the perfect person for the job.
Choosing the right executor requires careful thought and planning, and thinking of all the possibilities that could be when that time comes.