How simple have you made the tasks for the Executor of your Will?
Posted on November 17, 2023

I have been an Executor and Patti was an Executor and I was her helper. Both were VERY time consuming and somewhat painful processes. This site, EstateExec.com, looks to be a very useful organizational tool and says the average Executor spends over 500 hours to finalize an Estate. From my experience, that is not far off. The final Executor for the last-to-die of Patti and me does not live in Pittsburgh and has NO IDEA of the headache and time it takes to be an Executor. I decided to create files on my computer to help our final Executor. If I don’t do this and update the information periodically, I think the Executor’s tasks would be close to IMPOSSIBLE. This post shows a bit of my progress.

 

== I assume I am the last to die ==

 

There is not that much to do when the first of us – Patti or me – dies. There is A LOT to do when the last of us dies. That responsiblity falls on the Executor of our Will. Here are the steps that EstateExec lists:

 

 

My list and file folders that I have now look slightly different:

 

 

== Timeline: The first few weeks ==

 

EstateExec has a good list of steps for the first week. I modified the list and have these headings for the first week or so.

 

 

== The time sinks ==

 

I remember the two HUGE time sinks as 1) financial tracking of expenses in a format acceptable to the probate court, and 2) all the work dealing with maintaining the house and then selling it, distributing and selling other property and finally disposing of the stuff no one wants. I am going to spend time over the next several months to answer the following questions:

 

 

 

Conclusion: None of us want to think about the work task for our final Executor of our estate. No one who agrees to be an Executor thinks about what it requires unless they’ve done it before. Being an Executor takes an average of 500 hours to settle an estate and it is not a pleasant process from my experience. Anything you can do not to make the tasks simpler for your final Executor is a real gift to him/her.

 

I like EstateExec.com as a basic organizer and have started on organizing our information for our final Executor. This post shows a bit of my progress.