How to find an Executor for my Will
 

Any advice on naming an estate Executor for someone with no friends or family that would be suitable for that position?

In a way, I’d prefer enlisting a fiduciary at a reputable but smaller ‘get-to-know-you’ business rather than a larger less personal financial company, but don’t know how to find or evaluate such groups. Or if they’ll still be around when I’m not.

I would suggest that you attempt to convert as many assets as possible into a "transfer-on-death" ownership, so the will becomes less important. All of my assets are titled that way, except for my house. And, I am considering getting a ladybird deed for the house, so that there will be no need to probate my will because all of the assets will transfer automatically at death.

We have 5 people who will inherit our assets upon our deaths. Can a Lady Bird Deed be used in the case of a property going to more than one person?

Also. Is it customary to leave a sum of money in the will to an executor? I just realized that our executor may be required to fly to Florida upon our death and that will be expensive.

I'm not sure if a ladybird deed can name more than one person to take ownership of the property, but it sounds like a terrible idea. I would suggest that you direct the executor to sell the property and to distribute the proceeds to the 5 heirs. Having 5 people jointly owning a house is ripe for a huge argument.

It is not customary to leave money in the will to the executor, unless they are one of your heirs. That would become their money to use for anything they wanted. However, the executor will have access to the estate assets and they can use those assets as needed to perform the executor duties and also to receive a reasonable compensation, which is prescribed by law or limited by the court. You can also specify a larger compensation amount in the will for the executor to receive for performing the duties if you want. To me, the most important thing to do is to have a checking account or other liquid account that the executor can get access to quickly, so they can start the probate process without spending their own money.

There are only 5 states that have ladybird deeds. Florida is one, but California, where I still own a house, is not. If I die before I sell it, probate is still required, I believe, unless there's some other 'trick' I'm not aware of. Yes, most of my other accounts are designated beneficiaries.

As I understand it, California has a transfer-on-death (TOD) deed for real estate that allows you to name a beneficiary and avoid probate. Florida does not allow TOD deeds, which is why many people use the ladybird deed.

Consult with an attorney to see if a trust company or a bank can be named as the executor of a will.

Any bank will be delighted to be the executor of your will.

I used a well established law firm here in the villages as my executor.

Just find an attorney 30 years younger than you. Likely they’ll be around when you’re not. Most of them will do it and are fiduciaries by definition. If you’re trying to get it done for nothing, good luck with that. Dying costs!

This is great advise and is exactly what our new Financial/Estate Planner (a fiduciary) told us recently.

Having just been executor of dads finances. Please set up all your money accounts and stock ect accts with beneficiaries. Could be any charity or person you want. That way executor or anyone else can’t get to that for “expenses” Have a will that specifies what you want done with personal belongings such as give to or sell and give money to. When deciding on executor make sure you find out all fees and percentage associated with it. Look into title through trust maybe who gets house maybe charity or person you know who needs some money or house. I would definitely be asking these questions to estate planning atty so maybe for this forum the better question is who is good estate planner?

Katherine Barski, Bogin. Munns and Munns

Maybe not customary but doable, especially if your executor is well informed of your wishes and trustworthy. My mother died last year and had many financial discussions with one of my siblings who she had designated as her executor. We were all aware of this and trusted her implicitly to handle things as our mother wished. My mother had let it be known to her that a certain account was to be used for expenses related to airfares for funeral attendance and anything else needed after her death. The remainder is going to be distributed to the family. Of course, my sister was also a co-signer on her accounts. That might make a difference. You could set up one account with the executor to handle expenses.

Oh man, good question! Get someone you’ve known a long time & you can trust to do what you want. Personally I would get some advice from a good lawyer, but I would never trust my whole life property to a lawyer. Just ask them for advice that you can agree with. We have a couple of friends that we would trust to do the right thing. But you did ask a very very good question!