Responsibility of an Executor of an Estate
In the area of estate planning, you will need to appoint an executor to oversee your estate once you are gone. The executor of your estate will have a number of responsibilities including distributing the assets in your estate as well as paying any creditors.
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Dealing with the Will
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The executor of an estate is responsible for locating the will. Once the will is found, the executor must take it to the local probate court and file a petition to probate. At that point, the probate judge will validate the will. If the will is proven to be valid, the judge will give the executor the right to move forward with the collection and distribution of assets.
Collection and Inventory
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Once the executor begins to deal with the estate, he may need to take an inventory of assets and collect them. For example, if the deceased individual had multiple accounts, the executor may want to transfer all of the assets into a single account created for the estate. The executor also needs to keep track of all of the various personal property still in the estate. This might include real estate, personal property and life insurance policies. This simplifies distribution of the property according to the will.
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Paying the Debts
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It is also the responsibility of the executor to pay any outstanding debts that remain for the estate. The executor will need to file tax returns and pay outstanding taxes the estate owes. Once the probate process begins, any creditors of the estate will need to file a claim with the probate court. The executor will then have to pay the creditors out of the proceeds of the estate. In some cases, assets in the estate will have to be sold to come up with the money.
Distributing to the Beneficiaries
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After all of the debts are paid out of the estate, the executor can then distribute the assets to the beneficiaries. During this process, the executor will refer to the will to determine how to distribute everything. The executor has the ability to change the names on titles to transfer ownership to the proper beneficiaries. In some cases, the executor might simply make a cash payment to the beneficiaries instead of physically transferring any assets.
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