In this episode of Financial Planning for Canadian Business Owners, Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, and writer, interviews Melissa Best, Founder of QuickEstate, a software that saves families time when organizing their estate. Melissa is here to discuss what it takes to be an effective executor, should the situation arise.
Episode Highlights:
- 1:11 – Melissa Best introduces herself and her company.
- 2:07 – What are the obligations of an executor?
- 3:54 – Jason discusses the serious nature of being an executor.
- 5:35 – Melissa expands on the liabilities, legal implications, and compensation for executors.
- 7:20 – Jason and Melissa talk about the importance of dividing up duties rather than dollars.
- 10:20 – Melissa explains how her company has been working with financial advisors all over the country.
- 13:46 – How can executors effectively execute the estate?
- 15:55 – Melissa and Jason discuss the aspects surrounding certain assets that make them so difficult to deal with.
- 19:15 – How do the problems with family friction and litigation arise?
- 21:00 – Melissa explains why, sometimes, lawyers and advisors drag things out.
- 22:50 – Jason discusses where the drafting of the wills goes wrong.
3 Key Points
- First and foremost, an executor is responsible to conclude all of the deceased’s affairs, including financial assets, real estate, benefit programs, personal use assets, and service provider accounts.
- Many executors start at a position of disadvantage on account of not being educated of the responsibilities of being an executor nor even being informed that they are an executor.
- The family cottage tends to be one of the most difficult assets to deal with because of the taxes surrounding it and who gets to own it.
Tweetable Quotes:
- “It’s a huge responsibility. It takes a lot of time and it takes an awful lot of organizational skills, and recognition that this is a serious fiduciary responsibility.” – Melissa Best
- “One of the biggest problems for executors is they don’t even know they’ve been named...That is not an uncommon situation to start out on as an executor.” – Melissa Best
- “The will only tells the executor who gets what. It doesn’t give you an ounce of capability in terms of dealing with all the various assets.” – Melissa Best
- “Basically, at the end of the day, it comes down to get organized, get help, and communicate, really.” – Jason Pereira
Resources Mentioned:
Transcript
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