The Role of Your Executor

Your Will is a thorough, logical way to plan and control how the assets you own will be managed and distributed at your death. It will permit an orderly transition of your property to whom and in what manner you choose.

Your executor (or personal representative as the role in known in some states) takes charge of your estate once it is formally approved by the local probate court. Your estate will consist of both probate property (which passes according to the instructions in your Will) and nonprobate property (for which you have designated a beneficiary in a separate document. For instance: joint property, retirement plans and life insurance). Your executor will be instrumental in overseeing all these assets for however long it takes for them to pass into the hands of your beneficiaries.

The responsibilities of an executor

Your executor has a great many tasks to fulfill and details to handle. Here are some of the key responsibilities:

• Arrange for the probate of your Will.

• Assemble and inventory the assets in your estate.

• Arrange for the necessary appraisals of your property.

• Protect and manage estate assets.

• Notify estate creditors and handle claims against your estate.

• Find out the family’s immediate cash needs; determine if needed funds are available

• File tax returns and pay taxes.

• Distribute your estate.

This list is by no means a complete catalog of everything that must be done but it should be sufficient to persuade you that serving as an executor is neither an easy task nor one for the inexperienced.

Choosing Central Trust & Investment Company

We have been providing professional, comprehensive estate settlement services since 1948, and have served as executor for the estates of many individuals in our community. The advantages we offer as a corporate executor are many and significant:

• Constant availability. We have a continued corporate existence. If an individual is named to settle your estate, that person could become sick or travel extensively for business or pleasure at a time when his or her presence is crucial. There’s no guarantee that the person won’t die or become ill before the job is done.

• Specialized knowledge. A qualified executor must have good business sense; understand the ins and outs of taxes; be able to pay close attention to record keeping, correspondence and other details. We are well equipped to carry out these responsibilities.

• Professional investment management. As your executor, we can assure that your assets will be managed by specialists who will shape an investment strategy and make decisions based upon the instructions in your Will and the needs of your beneficiaries.

• Impartiality. It is our policy to treat all beneficiaries objectively. There is no worry that we will be influenced to favor one of your beneficiaries over another.

• Personal consideration. Our professionals, through their long experience in settling estates, appreciate the importance of sympathy, understanding and consideration in all of our contacts with your beneficiaries during a particularly emotional time.

• Accountability. We possess substantial capital and financial resources to stand behind all of the decisions made. Our actions are subject to periodic reviews by independent auditors and state and federal examiners.

Continuity

You may create a trust under your Will or leave a portion of your estate to a trust that was set up outside of your Will, in either case naming us to serve as your trustee. By naming us to serve as both executor and trustee, we are in on the important decisions from the beginning.

As trustee, we are aware of the investment requirements of the trust so that assets we manage as executor can be coordinated with the needs of the trust. We know, as executor, what liquid assets will be required to settle the estate, and, as trustee, we make sure those assets will be made available by the most efficient means. We know, as trustee, what the needs of the trust’s beneficiaries are, and, as executor, we can make early distribution of assets to the trust to ensure those needs are met.

Act now

Our experience as executor can offer you distinct advantages in planning for the security and well-being of your family. If you are concerned about the burden placed upon the executor named in your Will, or if you are ready to select an executor, we suggest you arrange for a meeting with us as soon as possible.

To find out more, please contact us.