OldShooter
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Yup. DW had 24x7 locksmiths on call to do this for her clients.
Executor/Trustee Document List?
- Thread starter Midpack
- Start date
CoolRich59
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Absolutely. Thanks Midpack and OldShooter for some great info. I am taking notes.
I (hopefully) still have a few years to go, but have told the DW that I want the process to be as painless to our executor and heirs as possible.
CoolRich59
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
This is an area that is still in flux, as the law always lags behind technology.
It's been a few years now, but when I was still at megacorp I had a discussion on this with the head of our litigation team. At that time courts still wanted to see original docs and not copies (I used to have our execs sign in blue ink and used red ink stamps for corporate seal and approvals). Since then technology has progressed from copies and scans of signed docs to "click-to-accept", e-signatures, etc.
I know there has been some litigation on the enforceability of these types of agreements, but progress is slow. So, I would err on the side of caution and ensure that executors/attorneys have the original docs.
OP
OP
Midpack
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Our estate attorney will have the 9 most important docs, and we’ll have a copy of that and everything else along with a couple USB drives altogether in our safe. Our trustees/executors have essential docs and access to the rest in advance, already in place. I don’t see any need to have it in the cloud...yet.
In addition to online logins, passwords, auto pays and subscriptions, it’s dawned on me to provide a written directory of what’s on my HD (and backup) so they can go right to essential info.
Last edited:
Finance Dave
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2007
- Messages
- 1,861
May already be in your list...but people to notify. This could be people to notify of the funeral, old co-workers, distant friends, or even members of clubs you belong to or things like that. Great list!
A few years back, I bought a book and related binder/software called Get It Together: Organize Your Records So Your Family Won't Have To
by Melanie Cullen (Author). It took a while to go through everything and fill out the Word documents, but once I completed it, I basically have a 3" binder with just about every conceivable thing my heirs need to know. I update it annually at the end of the year (only takes an hour or so to update). I put it in my home safe. The kids know where it is and the combination. I have all of the Word files on a flash drive stored in my safe deposit box.
Here are the individual chapters.
1 Letter to Loved Ones
2 Instructions
3 Biographical Information
4 Children
5 Others Who Depend on Me
6 Pets and Livestock
7 Employment
8 Business Interests
9 Memberships and Communities
10 Service Providers
11 Health Care Directives
12 Durable Power of Attorney for Finances
13 Organ or Body Donation
14 Burial or Cremation
15 Funeral and Memorial Services
16 Obituary
17 Will and Trust
18 Insurance
19 Bank and Brokerage Accounts
20 Retirement Plans and Pensions
21 Government Benefits
22 Credit Cards and Debts
23 Secured Places and Passwords
24 Taxes
25 Real Estate
26 Vehicles
27 Other Income and Personal Property
28 Other Information
by Melanie Cullen (Author). It took a while to go through everything and fill out the Word documents, but once I completed it, I basically have a 3" binder with just about every conceivable thing my heirs need to know. I update it annually at the end of the year (only takes an hour or so to update). I put it in my home safe. The kids know where it is and the combination. I have all of the Word files on a flash drive stored in my safe deposit box.
Here are the individual chapters.
1 Letter to Loved Ones
2 Instructions
3 Biographical Information
4 Children
5 Others Who Depend on Me
6 Pets and Livestock
7 Employment
8 Business Interests
9 Memberships and Communities
10 Service Providers
11 Health Care Directives
12 Durable Power of Attorney for Finances
13 Organ or Body Donation
14 Burial or Cremation
15 Funeral and Memorial Services
16 Obituary
17 Will and Trust
18 Insurance
19 Bank and Brokerage Accounts
20 Retirement Plans and Pensions
21 Government Benefits
22 Credit Cards and Debts
23 Secured Places and Passwords
24 Taxes
25 Real Estate
26 Vehicles
27 Other Income and Personal Property
28 Other Information
CoolRich59
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
For anyone interested, the book is available today at nolo.com for 50% off.
SecondCor521
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
One thing I did that I thought was moderately clever:
I wrote my "Letter of Instruction" which I was fairly certain was complete. But then I realized that often I write stuff and when people read it they either misunderstand what I wrote or I left out some important detail.
So what I did was print out the first several pages of it (everything except my usernames and passwords, basically) and gave it to my sister (who is my executrix) and asked her to read through it and make sure she understood it all and didn't have any questions. Fortunately I had everything in there, but I can imagine she might have said, "OK, but where is the key to the safe?" or "OK, but how do I pay for your funeral?" or whatever. And if she had, I would have been able to fix it while I'm still kicking, rather than leave her to figure it out best she could.
Another thing I'll just add is that it's better to have more than less. My Mom had a "green notebook", and some things were in there like five times. That's OK, we could just chuckle and skip over the four repeats. But one little line in there could have pointed to something that turns out to be important; I think there were a couple of those things.
She also did a thing towards the last year of her life where she got a box (like a banker box lid) and put any important paperwork in there. Then every time I visited, I'd go through those papers and take care of filing them or handling them or whatever needed to be done. I already had a general idea before, but by the time she passed away, I had a really good handle on everything and was able to pretty smoothly and efficiently take care of her estate and then my Dad as he shifted into being a widower.
I wrote my "Letter of Instruction" which I was fairly certain was complete. But then I realized that often I write stuff and when people read it they either misunderstand what I wrote or I left out some important detail.
So what I did was print out the first several pages of it (everything except my usernames and passwords, basically) and gave it to my sister (who is my executrix) and asked her to read through it and make sure she understood it all and didn't have any questions. Fortunately I had everything in there, but I can imagine she might have said, "OK, but where is the key to the safe?" or "OK, but how do I pay for your funeral?" or whatever. And if she had, I would have been able to fix it while I'm still kicking, rather than leave her to figure it out best she could.
Another thing I'll just add is that it's better to have more than less. My Mom had a "green notebook", and some things were in there like five times. That's OK, we could just chuckle and skip over the four repeats. But one little line in there could have pointed to something that turns out to be important; I think there were a couple of those things.
She also did a thing towards the last year of her life where she got a box (like a banker box lid) and put any important paperwork in there. Then every time I visited, I'd go through those papers and take care of filing them or handling them or whatever needed to be done. I already had a general idea before, but by the time she passed away, I had a really good handle on everything and was able to pretty smoothly and efficiently take care of her estate and then my Dad as he shifted into being a widower.
