Probate Attorney in Phoenix, Arizona
If I have been named the executor of an estate, how can you help me carry out my duties?
If I have been named the executor of an estate, how can you help me carry out my duties?
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Well if you’re the executor of the estate the first thing we do is explain to you the steps that you have to go through to be appointed and then administer the assets. There’s two parallel roads that are traveled at the same time one is those things that you have to do to remain in compliance with the court rules. And the second is you have to collect the assets and you have to find out who the creditors are, pay the creditors, marshal the assets. You may have to sell some assets and then, ultimately, you distribute assets among the people entitled to them.
And what we do is we make sure that those executors understand their fiduciary duties. They can’t make decisions that benefit them to the exclusion of others. So we’re adamant from the beginning that they understand that they’re doing a job for someone else not just for themselves.
Contact Mark A. Bregman
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Phoenix, AZ estate planning attorney Mark A. Bregman talks how he can help someone who has been named executor of an estate. He explains that when someone is named executor of an estate, the first step is to guide them through the process of being formally appointed and understanding how to administer the estate’s assets. He describes estate administration as following two parallel paths: one involves complying with court rules and procedural requirements, while the other involves identifying and collecting assets, determining and paying creditors, managing or selling assets as needed, and ultimately distributing the estate to the rightful beneficiaries.
He emphasizes the importance of ensuring that executors fully understand their fiduciary duties. They must make decisions that are fair and in the best interests of all beneficiaries, rather than for personal gain. From the outset, he makes it clear that the role of an executor is to serve the estate and its beneficiaries, not their own interests.
