Estate administration doesn’t have to be ‘slow and complicated’…top tips to assist your executors

So, what can you do during lifetime, to improve your executors’ experience when administering your estate?

1. Ensure that your executors know what’s in your estate by keeping a list of all assets and liabilities alongside your Will. Remember to update this on a regular basis to ensure maximum efficacy for your executors. We provide our clients with a template schedule of assets and liabilities for completion once they have executed their Will.  If you are updating an old list, it is important to mark clearly if an account has been closed or asset sold, so that your executors don’t spend additional time making fruitless enquiries.
2. Previously, executors have been able to work out what the testator had in their estate based on the post they received. As people are increasingly moving away from paper statements, this is becoming more tricky.  In order to make life easier for your executors, keep your email inbox organised, with separate folders for the statements you receive.  If you are concerned that your executors may not be able to access your inbox on your death, an alternative solution is to download your statements and save them to a clearly labelled and categorised directory on your desktop.
3. Think about simplifying your estate. The Report found that 55% of people have more than one bank account.  Make sure that any old, inactive accounts are closed and consider seeking professional financial advice on potentially consolidating accounts and investments.

If you are acting as executor in the administration of an estate and are unsure of the extent of the deceased’s estate (whether you have no clue what they had at all, or you have a fair idea but want to  double check that you have identified all assets) it is possible to conduct an assets and liabilities search to identify any banks or building society accounts (live, online, lost and dormant), investments, shareholdings, pensions and insurance policies.  The search will also conduct an electronic check of credit data to identify any liabilities.  As part of any estate administration, we discuss and weigh up with the executor, based on the individual circumstances of the estate, the value of conducting a search versus the cost involved.

Hopefully the above tips are helpful.  Whether you are focusing on getting your ducks in a row and planning ahead to simplify your estate administration for your executors, or whether you are an executor yourself, faced with identifying the assets and liabilities of someone’s estate, we can help.  Please get in touch with our Wealth Preservation team for further advice.