The cornerstone of any estate plan is a Last Will and Testament. When you create your Will you will have to make a number of very important decisions. You may assume that all of these decisions relate to the division of your assets upon your death; however, there is another decision that must be made when you create your Will that is likely of more importance than you realize-the appointment of an executor. Unfortunately, most people give very little thought to the appointment of an executor … [Read more...]
Why Your Choice of Executor Is So Important
When you finally sit down to create your estate plan, one of the first decisions you will likely make is choosing someone to be the executor of your Last Will and Testament. People often give this appointment very little thought because they fail to understand how important the position actually is. The executor of your estate is responsible for taking your entire estate through the probate process. Depending on the size and complexity of your estate, the probate process can last months, even … [Read more...]
Reclaiming Copyrights
An Executor's duties consist in part of gathering all of the assets of an estate. Most of you probably know this. What you may not know is that part of doing that can consist of reclaiming copyrights that the deceased previously assigned to someone else. In 1976, Congress was concerned that artists were being taken advantage of and assigning the copyrights to their original works for far less than the copyrights were actually worth. In contrast to many things Congress does, there was actually … [Read more...]
Hitting a Fastball
Many things in life seem like they are easy to do until you actually try to do them. This is one of the reasons that people enjoy watching sports so much. They seem so easy, but anyone who has ever tried to play a sport knows that it is extremely difficult. It looks easy to hit a fastball, but step into the batter's box and you will find out just how difficult it is. It requires a certain skill set and training that most of us just do not have. This phenomenon is not unique to sports. Being an … [Read more...]
An Attorney for the Executor
When people find out that they have been named as an Executor in a recently deceased family member's Will, they have many questions about what they should do. Most people do not have a lot of experience administering estates and they need to discover what their responsibilities and duties are. This can lead many people to seek information online. Unfortunately, as in almost every other area of knowledge, there is a lot of bad information online. What Executors should do is to schedule an … [Read more...]
Planning to be an Executor
When someone asks you to be the Executor of his or her Will, you usually agree to act in that capacity without thinking it through carefully. It is one of those things that people naturally say yes to. However, when it comes to to actually carrying out your duties as an Executor, you will face problems if you have not thought about what you need to do and prepare for it. Most of the time, Executors need to go to Probate to carry out their duties. This requires that you follow formal and set … [Read more...]
Your Digital Assets
How many things do you now do digitally that you used to do otherwise? If you think about it, probably a lot of things. Many of us no longer physically balance a checkbook or keep written bank statements. All of that information is online at our bank's website. We no longer pay our cable bill by writing a check and sending it in. We have automatic payments set up. This new way of handling our finances digitally creates new problems for your estate plan and how your assets will be handled after … [Read more...]
Executor Access to Email
The duties of an Executor get more and more complex as the world gets more and more complex. With people using email for just about everything today, it is important for an Executor to access the email account of the deceased to make sure that there is nothing important contained in a message, such as a business deadline. However, if the Executor does not have the password, then things can get complicated. In the best case scenario, the Executor will be able to access the computer that the … [Read more...]
Your Federal Income Tax Duties as a Personal Representative: Part 3 of 3
As you know from the previous blog, a personal representative may also be responsible for filing a decedent’s final individual income tax return or Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 1040. You will also have to make sure you file an IRS Form 706, United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return. As the personal representative appointed to administer an estate, you must also file a federal income tax return on the estate’s behalf. The estate’s gross income includes everything … [Read more...]
Your Federal Income Tax Duties as a Personal Representative: Part 2 of 3
Continuing our discussion of a personal representative’s federal income tax responsibilities on behalf of the estate, we will discuss what these responsibilities entail. As a personal representative, you will have to make sure you file all tax documents and forms in a timely fashion and pay any tax liabilities. You may also be responsible for filing individual income tax returns or the decedent’s final income tax return. You will have to comply with the strict deadlines imposed by IRS or request … [Read more...]
