Investors’ Chronicle quotes Harriet Betteridge on how to be a good executor
Being asked to serve as an executor can feel like a compliment — and in many ways, it is. You’re being entrusted with the responsibility of carrying out someone’s final wishes and ensuring the people they care about are supported financially. But it’s also a demanding role, one that involves careful decision‑making, legal obligations and, at times, emotional complexity.
Before you agree to take it on, it’s important to understand exactly what the job entails and to consider whether you’re prepared for the responsibilities and potential liabilities that come with it.
Harriet Betteridge, Private Client Partner, sheds light on how to be a good executor for Investors' Chronicle:
The first step is always for the executor to understand what is in the estate. Executors will need to undertake an information-gathering exercise to work out what assets there are, what the liabilities are and what gifts the deceased made during their lifetime.
Gathering all that information is rarely easy, but it is important to be thorough. An executor has a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries of the estate, meaning that they must act in their best interests and safeguard the estate’s assets. If you breach your duties as executor, you will be personally liable, and you could be sued by the beneficiaries.
So, for example, if you pay distributions to the beneficiaries before you have paid all of the debts of the deceased, then you could be liable for those debts because you have not satisfied the creditors of the estate, and you’ve handed out money to the beneficiaries.
Read the full piece in Investors' Chronicle here.
