Wills - How to Choose an Executor

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Handle9

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#2966194 12-Sep-2022 15:49

MikeAqua:
Eva888: Thinking about Wills opens a great can of worms. Was just reading on a lawyers website about how long probate takes which is from 6 months to a year during which time all assets are frozen including bank accounts of the deceased. In the case of one spouse dying and they have joint bank accounts wouldn’t this cause hardship to the remaining spouse. Imagining all the auto payments for internet and power, rates etc. How can one manage to future proof this happening.

This is why joint accounts for living costs etc are very important. We get our income paid into our joint account and my 'pocket money' and savings transfer out of it. If I die my partner can simply stop all the outgoing payments and transfer funds from our joint account into hers, and make sure her salary gets paid into her account.

In a case where someone is gravely ill, you move money around etc before they die.

It’s also useful to have some emergency money available in individual accounts if that’s possible for you.

The inheritance laws are a bit different here so we have always made sure my wife has access to enough money outside the joint accounts to survive for a few months and/or buy tickets to Nz. It’s not worth making an already stressful time more difficult if it can be avoided with some planning.

Wheelbarrow01

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#2966422 13-Sep-2022 01:42

Eva888: Thinking about Wills opens a great can of worms. Was just reading on a lawyers website about how long probate takes which is from 6 months to a year during which time all assets are frozen including bank accounts of the deceased. In the case of one spouse dying and they have joint bank accounts wouldn’t this cause hardship to the remaining spouse. Imagining all the auto payments for internet and power, rates etc. How can one manage to future proof this happening.

Hmm this wasn't my experience. My sister and I were executors of my mother's estate when she passed away. She owned a couple of properties where regular outgoings still needed to be paid during probate. Prior to her death I was her enduring power of attorney so I paid all her bills for her using her own money, however that arrangement immediately ceased when the bank was notified of her death. During probate, I simply emailed the family lawyer anytime a bill needed paying, and the lawyer arranged all outgoing payments with the bank. Once probate was completed, I was setup with full access to her accounts again (as executor) to pay bills directly.

I hear what people say about wills and family though. My mother had a somewhat complicated estate and to realise the full potential of it, my sister, brother and I worked pretty bloody hard on most weekends and evenings for a solid couple of years. After the work was done (which included a sub-division of land and a couple of house renovations, followed by the sale of the properties), we came out with a fairly decent amount - which was divided equally between the 3 of us and the fourth sibling, another brother living overseas.

First, the absentee brother complained about how much he was going to get, and questioned what we had spent money on. We were all pretty p1ssed at him as he wasn't the one who had to put any effort in. We slogged our guts out and almost doubled his payout while he didn't have to lift a finger for it. We didn't pay ourselves for any of the work we did - our benefit came solely out of the realised funds from sale which was shared equally.

After the inheritance was paid out and my mum's bank accounts closed, he asked me to hold onto his share in my own account until a more favourable exchange rate - because he didn't have an NZ bank account of his own. I was happy to do so, and I even went so far as to shop around for the very best term deposit/investment rates for him, often switching it to other institutions at the end of each fixed term. I ended up holding his money for around 3 years and it accumulated an additional $25k in his hand as a result of my active management. When he finally requested me to withdraw the term deposits and send the money to him along with the financial statements, he had the nerve to bitch at me for being on the top tax rate and therefore costing him money due to my 33% withholding tax rate! Part of me wishes I had charged him an exorbitant admin fee and bought myself something nice with it - or just left his cash languishing in a 0.5% on-call account where he would only have made about $3500 (minus 33% tax of course lol).

mattwnz

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#2966423 13-Sep-2022 02:34

Wheelbarrow01:

First, the absentee brother complained about how much he was going to get, and questioned what we had spent money on. We were all pretty p1ssed at him as he wasn't the one who had to put any effort in. We slogged our guts out and almost doubled his payout while he didn't have to lift a finger for it. We didn't pay ourselves for any of the work we did - our benefit came solely out of the realised funds from sale which was shared equally.

Maybe you should have charged a fee for the work you did, as I can see this being quite a common occurrence. IMO that is the most fair way of doing it, as there is always someone doing a lot of the work, and there is then some bitterness as a result. But that is also families for you. Doing things for free for family does have a limit when it then starts to negatively impact you.

Eva888

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#2966499 13-Sep-2022 08:42

It’s no wonder people put off making Wills. The amount of 'what ifs' that come up is tiring. Choosing an executor in case of the demise of a beneficiary/executor is a hard one. You need someone younger but also willing. The simple Will I decided to draw up myself as an interim until something more in-depth is drawn up has become another exercise in procrastination and more questions than answers. Glad to know that witnesses don’t need to be alive at the time of reading.

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