Who can be an executor and a co-executor/alternate executors?
by David M. Israel
An executor can be an individual or a professional corporation
such as a trust company that provides executors' services. An
individual executor must be eighteen years of age and legally
competent. Usually, the individuals named as executors include
a spouse, a child or children, relatives, close friends or
associates. It is important to carefully choose executors,
selecting them from the group of people whom the testator
trusts and who have experience dealing with money. If
an executor passes away before the testator, the testator
may make a codicil to his will (a short document amending
the will) naming his new executor or executors.
Co-executors are executors acting together. Alternate executors act
only if a previous named executor or executors are unable
to act.
The first choice of executor is usually the spouse as sole
executor because, in most cases, the bulk of an estate passes
to an individual's spouse. If the testator decides to appoint
his children, it may be wise to appoint all of them as co-executors
to avoid any hard feelings between them as well as to share
amongst them the responsibility of dealing with the estate.
To contact the author, please email disrael@smhilaw.com
The information contained in this message is general
and should not substitute for the advice and counsel of
a licensed lawyer. |
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