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March 2, 2021

11 Pieces of Advice This National Financial Awareness Day

With the summer season being well underway and the coolness of fall soon approaching, we could all benefit from some quick and easy financial hacks to guarantee we’re in the best position possible. The heat of the summer and the list of never-ending events can quickly cause us to feel we’re burned out from life’s demands. Grab a nice, cold glass of your favorite summer beverage and take a look at the tips below to recharge your finances.

Set a Cash Budget for Discretionary Expenses

The best way to combat overspending in certain categories such as entertainment, meals or clothes, is to set a cash budget. In life, there are always trade-offs, and this holds just as true with your finances. It’s all about finding a balance between what you want to spend money on, what you need to spend money, and what you can hold off on.

We swipe our debit and credit cards with ease – and new features with our cell phones make it effortless to spend money. When setting your budget or reviewing previous transactions, we often don’t realize how much money is actually flying out of the door. The best way to manage this is to withdraw a designated amount of cash and label each specific category every pay period. Once the cash is gone, it’s gone. This habit can take some time to truly activate, but it forces you to reconsider each purchase – saving you money in the long run.

Create and Stick to a Budget (or whatever name you give it)

I know, you set a budget at the beginning of the year. However, needs and responsibilities change! Life events such as buying a home, marriage, a new bundle of joy or sending a child off to college can quickly add more expenses. Be sure to remove any bills that no longer apply and make adjustments where necessary. This is also a great time to revise or add brand new finance goals during this budget exercise. Don’t let this budget plan collect dust – get into the habit of reviewing your budget and spending habits as often as needed. I recommend downloading Mint to get started on yours!

Evaluate your Current Investments

Are you still on track for retirement? Review and adjust your 401k contributions. In the instance your salary has increased, so should your savings. If you have solicited the help of a financial advisor, schedule a meeting to discuss how you can further maximize your investments and guarantee a better future for your family.

Pay Off Credit Card Debt

Vacations, celebrations, birthdays, and everything in between add up during the summer months. Commit to resolving your credit card balances and create a plan to ensure it happens. Remember, interest can accrue quickly on credit cards so be mindful, but diligent about reducing your credit card usage. List any outstanding credit card amounts and create a tangible plan that will help to get (and keeping them) at a zero balance. Implement a rule – what’s spent during one cycle must be paid off in full. This will help manage debt safely while making you think twice about swiping the plastic.

Create or Update your Will

Death is a topic that many people don’t like to discuss very often. In order to guarantee financial success for those you care about the most while also limiting confusion, a will is necessary. Determine what property you would like to include and appoint an executor to handle your affairs. The passing of a loved one is never easy to handle; however, it removes the chaos that can ensue. Communicate the location of the will to family members or close friends.

Use a Safe Deposit Box for Important Documents

Items such as birth certificates, social security cards, wills, passports, and other pertinent documents should be stored securely in a deposit box. Why is this important? If you start a new job and your identity has to be verified, it could cause some issues if these documents aren’t quickly available. There are costs associated with replacing these items, along with varying timeframes in which you’ll receive them. Save yourself the hassle and make sure your vital records are stored safely.

Review Insurance Coverages

Are you receiving the best possible rate for home and auto insurance? There’s no harm in calling your current insurance companies to see if you qualify for any additional discounts or savings. Other companies can also provide you a quote within minutes to ensure your pricing is comparable.

Maximize Employment Benefits

Have you reviewed your 401k contributions lately? Double-check your contributions and take the time to verify your employers’ match benefits. Also, review any supplemental information to make sure you’re taking advantage of all of their perks. Many employers offer discounts on things ranging from cell phone service to various types of insurances, so review that information regularly.

Automate your Savings

The easiest way to hit your savings goal is to automate as much as possible. Allocate a portion of your paycheck each period to automatically flow to your savings account. That removes one item off of your to-do list that seems to never end. Are you the type that can’t fight the temptation? Open a savings account at another bank location that is not easily accessible and watch your money multiply.

Review of Credit Report

There’s the saying that “cash is king”, however, credit holds the power. Dedicate some time to review your credit report provided by any of the three credit bureaus to ensure there are no errors. In the instance something appears incorrect, you can follow up with the credit bureau from which the report was provided and follow the actions necessary until the issue is resolved. You can check out your credit score instantly with Turbo.

Unsubscribe from Sales Emails

It’s impossible for us to patronize and take advantage of every sale that happens at our favorite stores. Remove the pressure and make the decision to declutter your email inbox. The less you see, essentially the less you spend. Achieving your financial goals are much more important than running to your local store or shopping online each time you’re notified. Remove the stress and hassle by opting out of sale notifications.

Choose all or a few of the tips listed to make the best use of National Financial Awareness Day!

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Source: mint.intuit.com

February 19, 2021

Why You May Not Want to Be an Executor

Being asked to be an executor is an honor you might want to pass up.

Settling an estate typically involves tracking down and appraising assets, paying bills and creditors, filing final tax returns and distributing whatever’s left to the heirs. At best, the process is time-consuming. At worst, it takes hundreds of hours, exposes you to lawsuits and thrusts you into the middle of family fights.

Robert Braglia of New York, a certified financial planner, was executor of an estate where the woman disowned three of her four children and left most of her money to just one of her many grandchildren. That could have caused an uproar even if the family got along, which it didn’t: Two of the woman’s children were fighting over the woman’s ashes before she actually died.

“Even without conflicts — which there always are — it is an enormous job,” Braglia says.

Before you agree to take on this role, be clear on what’s involved.

You could be doing it for many months

The time involved in settling an estate varies enormously. A small estate with few debts might be distributed within six to 12 months. It may take years to finalize a large estate with contentious heirs, lots of creditors or assets that are difficult to value, such as a business or rare collectibles.

A survey by EstateExec, an online tool for executors, found the typical estate took about 16 months to settle and required 570 hours of effort. The largest estates, worth $5 million or more, took 42 months and 1,167 hours to complete.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the executor has to put in that many hours, says CFP Russ Weiss of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. An executor can use some of the estate’s funds to hire an attorney and other help that could be more efficient than trying to figure everything out on their own.

“If you have other professionals involved — an attorney, a CPA, an investment person or wealth advisor — they’re doing most of the heavy lifting,” Weiss says. “Executors are like the quarterback in the administration of the estate.”

Executors may also collect a fee, with the amount depending on state law or what’s specified in the estate documents.

You might have a tough time finding assets

Even with help, executors should expect to spend many hours finding documents, inventorying assets and debts, arranging appraisals, communicating with financial institutions and government agencies, managing property and keeping careful records. If the estate includes a home, the house may have to be emptied of possessions and readied for sale.

The less organized the estate, the more time it may take to track down assets. EstateExec CEO Dan Stickel said his father, who died at 69, rented multiple storage sheds without telling his children where they were. Finding the various backyard sheds was challenging enough, but then they had to sort through the dusty contents. Those included piles of newspapers, battered furniture and several bars of silver bullion hidden under a dirty tarp.

Even then, they missed something. The auction company Stickel hired to dispose of the rest of the sheds’ contents found a box containing $30,000 in savings bonds. Fortunately, the company returned the bonds to the family.

You could be sued

Executors have a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries, which means the executor is required to put the beneficiaries’ interests first. People are typically advised to choose executors who are responsible, honest, diligent and impartial.

“It’s an honor. If somebody asks you, it’s to say, ‘I trust you, and I trust you implicitly that you will handle my affairs in a way that’s fair,’” Weiss says.

But the fiduciary duty comes with potential legal and financial consequences. Executors can be held personally responsible for mistakes and other problems. For example, one child may remove items from a parent’s home that are bequeathed to another child. The heir whose items were taken could sue the executor for failing to secure the home.

Executors also may have to make judgment calls, such as whether to spend the estate’s money to fix up a house for sale and if so, how much. Unhappy heirs can sue over those decisions, as well.

Given everything that can go wrong and the time commitment, people should think carefully about whether they really want the job before agreeing to be an executor, says CFP Kate Gregory of Huntington Beach, California, who has settled both her mother’s and her husband’s estates.

Gregory says she would agree to serve again only if a family member asked, and only if there wasn’t likely to be a lot of conflict among the beneficiaries. Even then, she would want to see the will or trust documents to ensure there aren’t any unpleasant surprises that could cause discord. She also would insist that the documents name alternates in case she can’t or won’t serve. No one can be forced to be an executor, but Gregory says she would feel better about saying “yes” if she knew there was a plan should she later say “no.”

“I want to make sure that I could resign,” she says.

This article was written by NerdWallet and was originally published by The Associated Press.

Source: nerdwallet.com

February 8, 2021

Estate Planning Checklist: 5 Tasks to Do Now, While Youâre Still Well

It’s difficult to think about what may happen if your health starts to decline — or how your loved ones will carry on after your death. But doing nothing to plan for these events could result in you losing control over your affairs while you’re still alive, and undesired confusion and anger after you’re gone.

You can help prevent these unwanted consequences from occurring by making these decisions while you’re still healthy, documenting them, and communicating them in advance to your loved ones. While there are many issues to think about, here are four decisions you should move to the top of your priority list.

1. Documenting Your Health Care Wishes

It’s important to make sure family members and friends are aware of your medical treatment wishes before a health care crisis takes these decisions out of your hands. Fortunately, there are ways you can formally document these directives in writing so there’s no misunderstanding.

Health care proxies

A health care proxy, also known as a medical power of attorney, is a legal document that authorizes one or more people to serve as health agents who can make medical decisions on your behalf should you become physically or mentally incapacitated.

Most people assign their spouse or partner as their primary health care agent and one of their children or a close family member or friend as an alternate agent should the primary agent pass on or also become incapacitated. Generally, each state has its own health care proxy/power of attorney forms.

A living will

These legal documents allow you to specify which kinds of treatment and long-term care options you prefer. In the form, you specify whether or not you wish a physician to employ resuscitation procedures, ventilators, tube feeding or other life-sustaining procedures.

Medical Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (MOLST)

Also called a physician orders for life-sustaining treatment (POLST), this form is a set of medical orders signed by a doctor for patients after they’ve been diagnosed with advanced illness who could die within the next few years. You can create this form even if you’re not ill. It will only go into effect if you’re facing an end-of-life situation.

Most states have their own form, which must be signed by you and a physician. Unlike a living will, it is not generally considered a legal document. Instead, it is a doctor’s order.

Organ donations

If you’ve never registered as an organ donor with your state, you can do it online. Start at www.organdonor.gov/register.html to connect to your state’s donor registry.

Interment agreements

If you’ve already made arrangements with a funeral home or a cemetery, make sure your loved ones are aware of this.

Note that some states have comprehensive Advanced Healthcare Directive forms that allow you to designate health care agents, specify treatment preferences, and authorize organ donations in a single document.

Once you’ve filled out any of these forms, make several copies and give them to your chosen health care agents and your estate attorney. While you don’t necessarily have to give them to your children, friends or family members, you should consider discussing your directives with them.

2. Choosing an executor

The executor will be responsible for managing the distribution of assets in your estate. These could include your home, your non-retirement investments, your vehicles and other valuable items.

Your executor doesn’t have to be a legal professional. As long as you’ve assigned an estate attorney to do the heavy lifting, anyone can serve as executor, including your children, a family member or a close friend.

If you ask a non-professional to serve as executor, make sure they understand their responsibilities. It could take months or years for your estate to be settled. During this time, your executor may need to have multiple in-person meetings with bankers, appraisers, attorneys and state and local officials.

Once you’ve chosen an executor it’s a good idea to introduce them to your estate attorney, even if it may be years or decades before they’ll have to work together. And remember that you can change your executor — or add a co-executor — at any time.

Whomever you choose for this role, make sure your heirs are aware of this decision.

3. Protecting Your Financial Interests

Many parents don’t want their heirs to know how much they’re worth — or how much they may inherit. It’s perfectly acceptable to keep this information close to the vest, but it may be a good idea to set their expectations, especially if they believe they’re going to receive much more than you intend to give them.

There are additional steps you should take to protect your financial security.

Assign a financial power of attorney

At some point, you may want to fill out a financial power of attorney form to give control of your finances to others, should you no longer be able to manage them yourself. Like a health care proxy, usually a spouse or partner is assigned as a primary proxy, with a child or other family member or close friend as an alternate.

Anyone can serve in this role, but preferably they should have a strong understanding of personal finance and investing. Should a health care crisis require them to intercede on your behalf, they’ll need to make critical decisions that may involve significant adjustments of your investment strategy and accelerated withdrawals from your banking and investment accounts to fund your medical and long-term care expenses.

Once you assign financial power of attorney, give this person an overview of all of the assets held in your banking and investment accounts as well as any outstanding debt obligations. Also consider introducing them to your financial adviser, accountant or estate attorney so they can get to know each other before a crisis requires them to start working together.

Discuss your trust

If you’ve placed most of your assets in a trust to remove them from your estate, make sure your heirs understand this decision.

This kind of disclosure is particularly important if you’ve transferred your home, vehicles, private business shares, artwork or jewelry to the trust and have instructed the trustee to sell these assets after you and your spouse or partner have passed on. Your heirs may be upset by these decisions, but at least they’ll know in advance that they shouldn’t expect to take ownership of these assets.

Examine tax issues for beneficiaries

While the beneficiaries of your trust generally won’t have to pay taxes on the value of the principal they receive after you’re gone, they may have to pay taxes on any earnings or income they receive.

Also, if you plan for your heirs to inherit any money remaining in your 401(k) or traditional IRA, make sure they’re aware of this, since they may have to pay taxes on any required distributions or withdrawals from these accounts. If you’re able to convert some or all of these assets to a Roth IRA while you’re still alive, your heirs won’t have to pay any federal taxes on distributions or withdrawals from balances they inherit. But you will have to pay taxes on the amounts you convert, so it’s up to you to decide whether to take the “Roth conversion tax hit” yourself, or avoid converting and let your heirs deal with the tax consequences after you’re gone.

4. Finalizing Your Will

Hopefully, you’ve written a will that clearly specifies how your assets will be distributed. You may be hesitant about discussing it with your heirs, but you should consider doing so, especially if they’re under the mistaken assumption that they’ll be inheriting the bulk of your estate.

If this isn’t true — for example, if you plan on leaving most of your wealth to charity — then it may be better to inform them of this decision sooner rather than later.

5. Creating a ‘Need to Know’ File

Once you’ve made these critical decisions, it’s important to communicate them ahead of time to those who will be most impacted. If you don’t feel comfortable talking about these issues in person, consider recording a video where you explain your wishes and tell them what steps you’ve taken to document them.

Make it easy for people to access the information they need to carry out your wishes by creating a comprehensive “end of life” file. It should include:

Copies of your health care and financial proxy forms.
Copies of your life insurance policies.
Contact information for your primary care physician, medical specialists, attorney, accountant, financial adviser, life insurance agents or any other professionals they may need to contact in a health care emergency or after your death.
At least one copy of your bank, investment, mortgage and loan statements.
A list of all your credit card numbers and any associated PINs needed to access these accounts.
User names, password and personal identification numbers for all of your online accounts, including social media accounts.
Any interment agreements you’ve already made with a funeral home or cemetery.
The location of vehicle titles, deeds, mortgage documents and past tax returns and records.
If you’re a business owner, copies of any business succession plans and the location of ownership-related documentation.

Thinking through these end-of-life issues can cause a great deal of anxiety. But if you can make and communicate these discussions while you’re still physically and mentally healthy, you’ll help make it easier for your loved ones to deal with these issues when the time comes.

This material has been provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute either tax or legal advice. Although we go to great lengths to make sure our information is accurate and useful, we recommend you consult a tax preparer, professional tax advisor, or lawyer.

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

Financial Adviser, Partner, Canby Financial Advisors

Joelle Spear, CFP® is a financial adviser and a Partner at Canby Financial Advisors in Framingham, Mass. She has an MBA with a finance concentration from Bentley University.
Securities and advisory services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network®, Member FINRA/SIPC, a Registered Investment Adviser. Financial planning services offered by Canby Financial Advisors are separate and unrelated to Commonwealth.

Source: kiplinger.com

January 23, 2021

What Is a Nuncupative Will?

What Is a Nuncupative Will? – SmartAsset

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Making a last will and testament is an important part of your estate plan and there are different types of wills to choose from. A nuncupative will, meaning a will that’s oral rather than written, may be an option in certain circumstances. While state will laws typically require that a will be written, signed and witnessed to be considered legal, there are scenarios in which an oral will could be upheld as valid. Understanding how a nuncupative will works, as well as the pros and cons, can help with shaping your will-making plans if you have yet to create one.

A financial professional can offer advice on investing, retirement planning, financial planning and various other areas of finance. Find a financial advisor today.

Nuncupative Will, Defined

A nuncupative will simply means a will that isn’t written. Instead, it’s delivered verbally by the person who intends to make the will.

Nuncupative wills are sometimes called deathbed wills since they’re often created in end-of-life situations where a person is too ill or injured to physically draft a will. The person making the will, known as a testator, expresses wishes about the distribution of property and other assets to witnesses.

How Does an Oral Will Work?

Ordinarily, when creating a will you’d draft a written document identifying yourself as the will maker and spelling out how you want your assets to be distributed after you pass away. You could also use a will to name legal guardians for minor children if necessary and name an executor for your estate.

An oral will sidesteps all that and simply involves the person making the will expressing his or her wishes verbally to witnesses. There would be no written document unless one of the witnesses or someone else who is present chooses to copy down what’s being said. The person making the will would have nothing to sign and neither would the witnesses.

There’s a reason oral wills are no longer used in most states: Without a written document that’s been signed by the person making the will and properly witnessed, it can be very difficult to prove the will maker’s intentions about how assets should be distributed or who should be beneficiaries.

Are Nuncupative Wills Valid?

This type of will is no longer considered valid in most states. Instead, you’ll need to draft a written will that follows your state’s will-making guidelines. For example, most states require that the person making a will be at least 18 and of sound mind. The will also has to be witnessed by the required number of people who don’t have a direct interest in the will’s contents. Depending on where you live, you may or may not need to have your will notarized.

There are a handful of states that still allow oral or verbal wills, however. But they’re only considered valid under certain circumstances.

In North Carolina, for example, oral wills are only recognized if:

The person making the will believes death is imminent
The witnesses are asked to testify to the will
Both witnesses are present with the testator when the will is dictated
The testator states that what he or she is saying is intended to be a will
An oral statement is made to at least two competent witnesses
The testator then passes away

Even if those conditions are met, the heirs to the will would still have to bring a legal action to have it admitted to probate court. The witnesses would have to testify to what was said and even then, North Carolina still doesn’t allow for the transfer of real estate through an oral will.

In New York, the guidelines are even narrower. New York State only allows nuncupative wills to be recognized as legal and valid when made by a member of the armed services during a time of war or armed conflict. The intentions of the person making the will has to be stated in front of two witnesses. State law automatically invalidates them one year after the person leaves military service if they don’t pass away at the time the will was made.

How to Prepare a Will

Having a written will in place can help your loved ones avoid problematic scenarios about how to divide your property after you pass away. If you don’t have a will in place yet, you risk dying intestate. There are a couple of ways you can create one.

The first is using an online will-making software. These programs can guide you through the will-making process and they’re designed to be easy enough for anyone to use, even if you’re not an attorney. If you have a fairly simple estate then using an online will-making software could help you create a will at a reasonable cost.

On the other hand, if you have a more complex estate then you may want to get help with making a will from an estate planning attorney. An attorney can help ensure that your will is valid and that you’re distributing assets the way you want to without running into any legal snags.

Generally, when making a will you should be prepared to:

When making a will, it’s important to remember that some assets can’t be included. For example, if you have any assets that already have a named beneficiary, such as a 401(k), individual retirement account or life insurance policy, those would go to the person you’ve named.

And it’s also important to note that a will is just one part of the estate planning puzzle. If you have a more complex estate then you may also need to consider setting up a living trust. A trust allows you to transfer assets to the control of a trustee, who manages them on behalf of the trust’s beneficiaries. Trusts can be useful for minimizing estate taxes and creating a legacy of giving or wealth if that’s part of your financial plan.

The Bottom Line

Nuncupative wills are rare and while some states do recognize them, they generally aren’t valid in most circumstances. If you don’t have a will in place, then creating one is something you may want to add to your financial to-do list. Even if you don’t have a large estate or you’re unmarried with no children, having a will can still provide some reassurance about what will happen to your assets once you pass away.

Tips for Estate Planning

Consider talking to a financial advisor about will making and estate planning. If you don’t have a financial advisor yet, finding one doesn’t have to be complicated. SmartAsset’s financial advisor matching tool can help. By answering a few brief questions online you can get personalized recommendations for professional advisors in your local area. If you’re ready, get started now.
Along with a will and trust, there are other legal documents you might incorporate into your estate plan. An advance healthcare directive, for instance, can be used to spell out your wishes in case you become incapacitated. Power of attorney documents allow you to name someone who can make medical or financial decisions on your behalf when you’re unable to.

Rebecca Lake Rebecca Lake is a retirement, investing and estate planning expert who has been writing about personal finance for a decade. Her expertise in the finance niche also extends to home buying, credit cards, banking and small business. She’s worked directly with several major financial and insurance brands, including Citibank, Discover and AIG and her writing has appeared online at U.S. News and World Report, CreditCards.com and Investopedia. Rebecca is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and she also attended Charleston Southern University as a graduate student. Originally from central Virginia, she now lives on the North Carolina coast along with her two children.

How to Change the Executor of a Will

How to Change the Executor of a Will – SmartAsset

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Drafting a last will and testament can help to ensure that your assets are distributed according to your wishes after you pass away. You can also use your will to name a legal guardian for minor children or choose an executor for your estate. It’s possible to make changes to your will after it’s written, including removing or adding an executor if necessary. If you’re wondering how to change the executor of a will after the fact, the process is easier than you might think. As you go about the process, it may behoove you to find a trusted financial advisor in your area for hands-on guidance.

Executor of a Will, Explained

The executor of a will is the person responsible for carrying out the terms of a will. When you name someone as executor, you’re giving him or her authority to handle certain tasks related to the distribution of your estate.

Generally, an executor can be any person you name. For example, that might include siblings, your spouse, adult children or your estate planning attorney. Minor children can’t serve as executors and some states prohibit convicted felons from doing so as well.

There’s no rule preventing a beneficiary of a will from also serving as executor. While beneficiaries can’t witness a will in which they have a direct interest, they can be charged with executing the terms of the will once you pass away.

What Does the Executor of a Will Do?

Being executor to a will means there are certain duties you’re obligated to carry out. Those include:

Obtaining death certificates after the will-maker passes away
Initiating the probate process
Creating an inventory of the will-maker’s assets
Notifying the will-maker’s creditors of the death
Paying off any outstanding debts owed by the will-maker
Closing bank accounts if necessary
Reading the will to the deceased person’s heirs
Distributing assets to the persons named in the will

Executors can’t change the terms of the will; they can only see that its terms are carried out. An executor can collect a fee for their services, which is typically a percentage of the value of the estate they’re finalizing.

Reasons to Change the Executor of a Will

While you may draft a will assuming that your choice of executor won’t change, there are different reasons why making a switch may be necessary. For example, you may need to choose a new executor if:

Your original executor passes away or becomes seriously ill and can’t fulfill his or her duties
You named your spouse as executor but you’ve since gotten a divorce
The person you originally named decides he or she no longer wants the responsibility
You’ve had a personal falling out with your executor
You believe that a different person is better equipped to execute your will

You don’t need to provide a specific reason to change the executor of a will. Once you’re ready to do so there are two options to choose from: add a codicil to an existing will or draft a brand-new will.

Using a Codicil to Change the Executor of a Will

A codicil is a written amendment that you can use to change the terms of your will without having to write a new one. Codicils can be used to change the executor of a will or revise any other terms as needed. If you want to change your will’s executor using a codicil, the first step is choosing a new executor. Remember, this can be almost anyone who’s an adult of sound mind, excluding felons.

Next, you’d write the codicil. In it, you’d specify the changes you’re making to your will (i.e. naming a new executor), the name of the person who should serve as executor going forward and the date the change should take effect. You’d also need to validate the codicil the same way you did your original will.

This means signing and dating the codicil in the presence of at least two witnesses. Witnesses must be legal adults of sound mind and they can’t have an interest in the will. So, a beneficiary to the will couldn’t witness your codicil but a neighbor or coworker could if they don’t stand to benefit from the will directly or indirectly.

Once the codicil is completed and signed by yourself and the witnesses, you can attach it to your existing will. It’s helpful to keep a copy of your will and the codicil in a safe place, such as a safe deposit box. You may also want to give a copy to your estate planning attorney if you have one.

Writing a New Will to Change the Executor of a Will

If you need to change more than just the executor of your will, you might consider drafting a new will document. The process for drafting a new will is similar to the one you followed for making your original one.

You’d need to specify who your beneficiaries will be, how you want your assets to be distributed and who should serve as executor. The new will would also need to be signed and properly witnessed.

But you’d have to take the added step of destroying all copies of the original will. This is necessary to avoid confusion and potential challenges to the terms of the will after you pass away. If you’re not sure how to draft a new will to replace an existing one, you may want to talk to an estate planning attorney to make sure you’re doing so legally.

What Happens If You Don’t Name an Executor?

If, for any reason, you choose not to name an executor in your will the probate court can assign one. After you pass away, eligible persons can apply to become the executor of your estate. The person the court chooses would then be able to carry out the terms of your will. If you don’t have a will at all, then your assets would be distributed according to your state’s inheritance laws.

That’s why it’s important to take the time to at least write a simple will. This way, there’s no question of your estate being divided among your heirs the way that you want it to be.

The Bottom Line

Making a will can be a good starting point for shaping your estate plan. Naming an executor means you don’t have to rely on the probate court to do it. But if you need to change the executor of your will later, it’s possible to do so with minimal headaches.

Tips for Estate Planning

Consider talking to a financial advisor about creating an estate plan and what you might need. If you don’t have a financial advisor yet, finding one doesn’t have to be complicated. SmartAsset’s financial advisor matching tool can help you connect with an advisor in your local area. It takes just a few minutes to get your personalized recommendations online. If you’re ready, get started now.
A will is just one document you may need as part of your estate plan. You may also consider setting up a trust, for example, if you have extensive assets or own a business. Life insurance is something you may also need to have, along with an advance health care directive and/or power of attorney.

You could be doing it for many months

You might have a tough time finding assets

You could be sued

1. Documenting Your Health Care Wishes

Health care proxies

A living will

Medical Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (MOLST)

Organ donations

Interment agreements

2. Choosing an executor

3. Protecting Your Financial Interests

Assign a financial power of attorney

Discuss your trust

Examine tax issues for beneficiaries

4. Finalizing Your Will

5. Creating a ‘Need to Know’ File

Nuncupative Will, Defined

How Does an Oral Will Work?

Are Nuncupative Wills Valid?

How to Prepare a Will

The Bottom Line

Tips for Estate Planning

Categories

Executor of a Will, Explained

What Does the Executor of a Will Do?

Reasons to Change the Executor of a Will

Using a Codicil to Change the Executor of a Will

Writing a New Will to Change the Executor of a Will

What Happens If You Don’t Name an Executor?

The Bottom Line

Tips for Estate Planning

Categories