Knowledge & Resources
Wills and estate planning
What a will does, how to write one, and what your state requires for it to count.
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Wills and estate planning
What a will does, how to write one, and what your state requires for it to count.
Your executor is the person who deals with everything after you die. They file your will with the probate court, gather what you owned, pay outstanding debts and taxes out of the estate, and then distribute what is left according to your instructions.
It is an administrative job more than a financial one, and it usually runs for months rather than weeks. The people who do it well are organised and reachable, not necessarily the ones who are best with money.
Yes. This is the most common question people ask, and the answer is straightforward: no US state prevents a beneficiary from serving as executor, and naming the spouse or child who inherits most of the estate is the ordinary arrangement rather than a problem. They have every reason to finish the job properly.
The rule people are half remembering is about witnesses, not executors. Someone who inherits under the will should not be one of the people who witnesses your signature, because in many states that can void their gift or invite a challenge to it. Keep those two roles separate and use witnesses who inherit nothing.
Likely to outlive you, and healthy enough to take it on when the time comes. A sibling your own age is a weaker choice than an adult child for exactly this reason.
Organised and contactable. Probate is paperwork, deadlines and correspondence. Someone who answers letters is worth more here than someone with a finance degree.
Willing. Ask them first. An executor can decline, and finding that out after your death means the court appoints someone instead, which is the outcome naming one was meant to avoid.
Able to stay neutral in your family. If one relationship in the family is difficult, an executor on one side of it will make the process harder. Sometimes the right answer is the calm cousin rather than the eldest child.
Practically placed. Not a legal requirement in most states, but an executor living near your property and bank has an easier time than one several time zones away. A few states impose extra conditions on out-of-state executors.
Your first choice may die before you, be too unwell, or simply decline when the moment arrives. If nobody you named can serve, the probate court appoints someone, which is usually slower and is entirely out of your family’s hands.
Naming an alternate costs you one extra answer. Our questionnaire asks for one directly after your primary executor.
A digital executor handles online accounts, subscriptions, photos and social media, where state law allows it. It can be the same person as your executor, though families often pick someone younger for this. It is optional.
A custodian holds and manages anything inherited by someone below the legal age, until the law hands it over to them. Worth naming if a child or grandchild is among your beneficiaries. It can also be the same person as your executor.
