What Does an Executor of a Will Do?

Detailed Explanation

Being named as someone's executor is a sign of trust. It's also, often without much warning, a real job that arrives while you're grieving. The broad shape of the role is the same across countries whose law grew from English law, including Australia, the UK, the US, Canada and New Zealand. The forms, courts, taxes and deadlines are local. See the Wills, Probate & Estates hub for how the executor's role fits alongside the rest of estate administration.

In US law the executor is often called the personal representative, a term that also covers an administrator appointed by a court when there's no will. The duties are largely the same whatever the title.

Step 1: Find the will and deal with the first practical matters

The executor's first job is to find the original, signed will. Copies generally aren't enough for probate. Check the person's papers, their solicitor or lawyer, their bank, and any will registry or public trustee service in that country or state.

In the first days and weeks, the executor often helps arrange the funeral (and in many places has a legal say in it), secures the home and valuables, redirects mail, and makes sure pets and property are looked after. Who has to be told about the death is covered in who do you need to notify when someone dies. Several certified copies of the death certificate will be needed, because banks, insurers and courts each want one.

Step 2: Work out what the person owned and owed

Next comes a full inventory: property, bank accounts, investments, pensions or retirement savings, insurance, vehicles and valuables, and on the other side, mortgages, loans, credit cards, bills and taxes. Contact each institution's bereavement team to learn what it holds and what it needs before it will release anything.

Some assets won't pass through the executor's hands at all. Jointly owned property usually goes straight to the surviving owner (see what happens to jointly owned property when one owner dies), and assets with a named beneficiary, such as many life insurance policies and retirement accounts, are generally paid by the provider directly. Online accounts and photos are an increasingly common part of the inventory too; see what happens to your digital accounts when you die.

Step 3: Get legal authority, if it's needed

Where institutions insist on it, typically for solely owned property and larger balances, the executor applies to the relevant court for a grant of probate. That grant is the proof institutions rely on. Small or mostly joint estates often don't need one. See what is probate for when a grant is and isn't needed.

Step 4: Collect the assets, pay debts and deal with tax

With authority in hand, the executor closes or transfers accounts, sells assets if the will requires it or if money is needed, and pays the estate's debts and expenses, including the funeral. All of this is paid from the estate, not the executor's own pocket. Where the estate can't cover everything, debts are generally paid in a legal order of priority, and family members usually aren't personally responsible for what's left unpaid.

Tax is almost always part of the job, and the rules are entirely local:

• Australia: a final individual tax return, and possibly trust returns for the estate's income during administration, lodged with the ATO. Australia has no inheritance or estate tax.
• England and Wales: the executor values the estate and works out whether inheritance tax is owed. GOV.UK says that if it is, the estate's value must be reported within one year using form IHT400, and some tax normally has to be paid before probate is granted.
• United States: the personal representative files the person's final Form 1040 income tax return and, where the estate earns income during administration, a Form 1041 estate income tax return. Federal estate tax affects only very large estates, and some states have their own estate or inheritance taxes.

Step 5: Distribute the estate and account for it

Only once debts, taxes and expenses are settled, and any period for claims against the estate has passed, does the executor hand over gifts and divide the remainder as the will directs. Beneficiaries often sign a receipt. Throughout, the executor keeps a record of every amount received and paid, and gives beneficiaries a final account showing where the money went.

How long it takes

For a straightforward estate, six months to a year from death to final distribution is common. Waiting for a grant, selling a house, tax clearances and the time allowed for challenges to the will all add months. Disputed estates, businesses, or assets in several countries or states can take years. In England and Wales the first year is often informally called "the executor's year", but that's a convention, not a strict deadline.

How it works where you are

• In Australia: what an executor does in Australia, step by step, including Supreme Court probate, ATO obligations, superannuation, executor's commission and family provision claim periods.

Things to Consider

• You can get help without giving up the role. Executors can hire a solicitor, lawyer or accountant for difficult parts, such as tax or property sales, with the reasonable cost paid by the estate.
• Co-executors usually have to act together. Where the will names more than one executor, decisions and signatures generally need them all. Agree early on who does what.
• Communicate with beneficiaries. Most disputes start with silence, not wrongdoing. Brief, regular updates on progress and delays help keep trust.
• Keep estate money separate. A dedicated estate bank account, where the country allows one, makes the records far simpler than mixing estate money with your own.
• Know when to get advice. If someone is challenging the will, the estate may not be able to pay its debts, a family business is involved, or there are assets in another country or state, advice from a lawyer who handles estates in that jurisdiction is worth getting early.
• Look after yourself. Most executors are also grieving. It's reasonable to set a pace that works and to lean on professional help where you need it.

Common Mistakes

• Distributing the estate too early. Paying beneficiaries before debts, taxes and claims are settled is the most common way executors become personally liable.
• Paying estate costs from your own money without records. Reimbursement is usually allowed, but only if you can show what you paid and why.
• Treating the executor role as ownership. An executor manages the estate for the beneficiaries. Using estate property personally, or buying it cheaply, without everyone's agreement can lead to removal and legal action.
• Missing tax obligations. A final tax return, and possibly estate returns, are needed in most countries, and they're easy to overlook in the rush of everything else.
• Following rules from the wrong place. Probate, tax and inheritance rules differ by country and state. Use guidance from where the person lived and where their assets are.