Here are some tips if you are an executor.

Minor squabbles can take hours of your time away from your office. Court battles can add years to estate work as executor.  If you are a professional, this can actually take money from your pocket.

You should be doing work for which you are well-paid in the office.

You manage your work as an experienced advisor at what you do best.

Instead, as executor, you can end up spending hours with lawyers sorting through what you think is material evidence. You hope your lawyer has enough estate experience to help.

You May be Lucky

There may not be any legal disputes. You may not have to hire an estate lawyer to go to court.

But what happens if someone contests the estate and starts a lawsuit? You must hire a lawyer with estate court experience to:

• defend the will against claims from creditors;
• defend yourself from any mistakes you made handling the estate;
• sue to recover or collect estate assets

You can spend hours of unbillable time on estate lawsuits.

Executor Tips

If you are an executor, call me for a consultation.

Read a sample from Executor Quick Start and use my 65-point checklist to prepare yourself. Get answers to the most frequently asked executor questions.

Subscribe to my newsletter, EstateTips, and learn more about your executor duties.

Will You Be an Executor?

Get a free guide called Executor Duties: What You Need to Know.

Albert was the executor of his uncle’s small estate. He paid the beneficiaries what he roughly calculated they should receive. But he did not hold back enough to pay all the estate debts. Now he was in trouble and looking for legal help. What should you or any executor have done to prevent this pain?

Executors Must Invest in Legal Advice

Albert wanted to avoid spending his uncle’s money. He thought the beneficiaries would thank him as they would each get more money. Instead, they were now steaming because they were asked to give money back. They were worried Albert had made other mistakes.

If you are an executor, don’t forget that your reasonable legal fees are paid by the estate.

Legal advice will help you understand your executor duties including:

• whether you should accept or renounce your role as executor
• confirming a will is legally valid
• setting out your rights and responsibilities as executor
• completing court papers for probate of the will
• helping you sell or transfer estate assets or property
• protecting yourself from creditors and beneficiaries
• avoiding any potential personal liability for income taxes
• showing you the correct way to distribute the estate
• ensuring beneficiaries approve your compensation

Finding the Right Estate Lawyer

Search the internet to get background information about an estate lawyer’s experience and expertise.  Call and interview the firm by phone before you make commitments.

Ask your financial planner, banker or accountant to recommend the name of an estate lawyer in your neighbourhood.

Professional advice will protect you as executor. Consider it an investment to make before it’s too late.

Executor Tip: Getting proper legal advice will keep you out of trouble.

I call it Executor’s Disease™. It infects your money.

I see the infection every day in my law office. It affects people in all income brackets.

Your money may already be contaminated. I will tell you what this disease does. I will share with you my insider secrets about the disease and how you can find a cure.

Executor’s Disease™ is the new danger that nobody has dared to talk about … until now.

Don’t worry, it’s not contagious.

You cannot pass this disease on like it was a medical condition. It can, however, spoil everything. It does not care about your grand plans for your family or your money.

No Family is Immune from Estate Disputes

You may or may not have a plan for your money. However, estate disputes over money are obstacles that you must anticipate.

Disputes over money can be like a disease. They can cause full-blown, financially devastating lawsuits.

Innocent beneficiaries of your estate become victims.

Why Traditional Estate Planning Won’t Help

Most traditional estate planning advisors focus on tax issues. They are into preserving and transferring wealth. They speak of wealth, meaning your assets, real estate, businesses, stocks, and investments.

Professional financial planners show you how to get maximum benefit from all these assets. They are usually very good at their job. You get to sleep better with peace of mind.

Estate planners help you set up an orderly wealth transfer. Seldom do they get involved in messy estate work or disputes.

However, this is where you come back into the picture. It is critical for you to understand how things have changed. Estate disputes have become commonplace and affect everyone, not just the wealthy.

Over the next while, I will be writing about executors. If you happen to want to learn more about Executor’s Disease™, download my free ebook here.

This is one of the first decisions you get to make as an executor.

Choose wisely – changing lawyers is time-consuming and expensive.

After you do your preliminary research, interview prospective candidates. Look for referrals and search law firm websites.

Note: Some estate problems will call for different legal specialists.

Here are some factors that could affect your choice of lawyers.

You may need different expertise if:

• the will is being contested or does not make sense
• the former spouse wants to sue for support
• the estate includes a business
• the estate may be bankrupt
• the estate includes special assets like real estate or a business

The right lawyer can refer you to specialists in each of these areas.

You want to be confident about the advice you receive. Without the appropriate level of trust, nothing gets done.

If you want to learn more about my experience, watch this short video about my book for estate executors, Executor Kung Fu: Master Any Estate in Three Easy Steps.

Most people do not know what executors are expected to do. Making the wrong decision can cause stress and get you into trouble.

If you are a new executor of an estate, I know you are feeling overwhelmed. What should you do first?

You have to protect yourself. Lawsuits against executors are becoming more frequent.

As an estate lawyer, author, and founder of EstateTherapy.com, here’s how I can help you.

I created a self-study system to help executors protect themselves. It’s called Executor Kung Fu: Master Any Estate in Three Easy Steps.

It’s easy to use, filled with insider secrets and in plain language. You can find it only at EstateTherapy.com.

But don’t take my word for it. Visit my website and download a free sample.

Don’t act as executor without visiting EstateTherapy.com.  Watch my video here.

Sign up here for an Executor Workshop I am running for EstateTherapy.com on January 26, 8 – 9 p.m. EST.

You will receive a copy of my book, Executor Toolkit: What Every Executor Needs to Succeed. You will learn my 3-step system to handle any estate.

You will learn:

• Understand the legal definitions and terms you must know
• The Probate Process at a Glance … 12 months and counting
• 5 Costly Mistakes Executors make and how to avoid them
• 4 Dangers Executors face
• The 3-Step Executor Mantra to handle any Estate

Register today to save your seat.

Should YOU, as an executor, attempt to probate a will by yourself?

Here’s the tale of Jennifer to teach you. 

In her job with an insurance company, Jennifer filled out forms all day.  She thought it would not be much different filling out court forms.  Besides, she’d save a bundle by probating her brother’s will without a lawyer.

Jennifer’s brother, Douglas, was 46 when he died from complications with his new medications.  Jennifer was named as executor of his estate.  She wanted to probate Doug’s will.

Why Probate is Necessary

Jennifer was told she would need to get an Ontario certificate of appointment of estate trustee (letters probate as it was called) to sell Doug’s investments.  Jennifer would then pay Doug’s bills and his income taxes.  What was left over was to be all hers.

Jennifer spent a few days online reading up on probate.  She went to a number of websites.  Some were from American law firms.  These only confused her by talking about estate, local state, federal and inheritance taxes.

The local Ontario lawyers Jennifer called were not estate experts.  They each gave Jennifer different information.  They could not answer over the phone what she thought were simple questions.

Who Can Give You Estate Legal Advice?

Jennifer decided to try to probate the will herself.  She purchased legal forms. She filled out the application to obtain a certificate of appointment. She was overwhelmed by her grief.

She went to the local estate court to try to get advice.  She was told by the court clerks they were not qualified to give her legal advice.

Jennifer didn’t realize how long it would take to get the probate papers processed. It took almost 6 months to deal with all the necessary corrections. 

Frustrated, Jennifer admitted she had to hire a lawyer to appear in court.   She had been trying to save money.  It was a worthy goal. However, her numerous mistakes caused her lawyer to start the paperwork all over again.

These complications took time to resolve.  More than 3 months later she received the certificate.  This permitted Jennifer to sell Doug’s stocks.  In the meantime, however, the stock market had taken a downward turn. Some of his stocks became worthless in the 9 months since he passed away.

As a result, Jennifer found she had lost money in the stock market.  The final result was that Jennifer had barely enough to pay Doug’s debts.  She had lost her inheritance.

Jennifer realized too late if she had hired a probate lawyer six months earlier her tale would have had a happier ending. 

The Moral of the Story 

1. Good intentions cannot prevent financial losses. 
2. Doing probate without an estate lawyer puts everything at risk.  
3. Using an experienced probate lawyer is an investment, not an expense.

If you need practical advice as an executor, contact me here. You can count on my experience to help you.

Here are 3 tips to keep you out of trouble.

1. You must know the distinction between executor work and legal work.
2. Get professional advice about your executor duties – the sooner the better.
3. Not all lawyers are experienced in probate matters or can advise you.

Will you Act as an Estate Executor…?

I can give you a proven system with practical tips in my upcoming Executor Workshop.

I’m conducting a one-hour executor workshop on Wednesday, January 26th at 8:00 PM EST.

It is a complete and easy-to-use system to make probate painless for any executor.

I’ve included in the cost of the workshop a downloadable guide called EstateTherapy’s Executor Toolkit: What Every Executor Needs to Know.  Unlike any other guide, it explains what you need to know as I walk you through the probate process, step by step.

You will benefit from the insider information I give to all executors who are my clients.  I call it EstateTherapy’s Executor Toolkit: What Every Executor Needs to Know.  This is the material that you should have received on the first day you started to act as executor.

Who should attend the executor workshop?

• an executor or co-executor who does not know their role and responsibilities
• an executor who wants to know what to do and when
• an executor trying to protect themselves from unnecessary executor liability and headaches

What will you learn?

• legal definitions and terms you must know
• The Probate Process at a Glance … 12 months and counting
• 5 costly mistakes executors make and how to avoid them
• 4 dangers executors face
• The 3-Step Executor Mantra to handle any estate

Space is limited for the workshop so register early to avoid disappointment.  You have nothing to lose with my risk-free guarantee.  The workshop is hosted at EstateTherapy.com.

Here are 3 estate planning resolutions you can keep. Use them to protect your family and to give you peace of mind.

1. Make a will – resolve to invest in a professionally-prepared will. The cost of this investment, spread out over a number of years offers the best protection.

Do you think your homemade or do-it-yourself will is adequate? Prove it by having your handiwork reviewed by a lawyer. Remember – only a lawyer can render a legal opinion on a will. 

2. Make a power of attorney for property – this will ensure that should you have an accident, someone has access to your money. Your attorney would then be able to:
• manage your property, finances and investments,
• pay for your care and expenses, and
• collect rent or sell your property.

Don’t think that your family members can do this for you without a power of attorney.

When you need a power of attorney for property, it is often too late to sign the document. Your family should have access to your bank accounts if something should happen to you. That is why a power of attorney for property should be part of your estate planning tool kit.

3. Make a power of attorney for personal care – don’t leave your family guessing as to your wishes. Express your preferences. Do you wish to:
• continue to live in your own home or a nursing home,
• have in-home care paid for by you, or
• when the time comes, what kind of final treatment you would prefer

Want information to help with your estate planning resolutions? Take action and look at material I have at EstateTherapy.com:
1. download my free ebook: Estate Planning 7 Keys to Success
2. read a sample chapter from Breakthrough Estate Planning
3. register to receive advance notice of an Estate Planning online workshop

Are you…?

• an executor who does not know their role and duties?
• an executor who wants to know what to do and when?
• trying to protect yourself from executor headaches?

If you answered “YES” to any of these questions, you’ll love this online workshop. You will find the fastest way to:

• see the Probate Process at a glance … 12 months and more
• avoid 5 Costly Mistakes executors make 
• sidestep the 4 Dangers executors face 
• use the 3-Step Executor Mantra to handle any estate
• understand legal terms and more

I will be you Executor Workshop instructor during this 90-minute interactive session.

When: Wednesday, January 26, 2010, 7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. EST.

Register now and get an advance sign up bonus. Don’t be disappointed.

Learn the roles and duties of being an executor before it’s too late.

Register here - Start-to-Finish Executor Workshop.