By Steve Tepper, CFP®, MBA

Yet another eerie side effect of the COVID pandemic has been a surge in estate planning activity. It seems a lot of folks decided it might be a good idea to write their will, just in case. And as a result of that activity, a lot of family members and friends have found themselves designated as the administrator, or executor, of someone’s estate.

If you’re thinking about creating or updating your estate plan, you have some very important things you should discuss with the person who has agreed to be your executor.1 Even if your estate plan is up to date, it’s essential to give your executor all the information they need to carry out your final wishes. 

1. Where is the original will? Your executor will need to know exactly how to get ahold of the original will so it can be filed with the probate court upon your death. If an estate planning attorney drafted it and has the original, provide the attorney’s contact information to your executor. Or specify where in the house you keep the will. A safe deposit box is not a good place to keep it unless your executor is an owner of the box.

2. Your passwords. Your executor may need to access your email, accounts, and social media, as well as phones and other devices. If you don’t want them to have all that information while you’re alive, then tell them how they can access a consolidated password file on your computer, and keep that file up to date!

3. A final letter. You may want to write a personalized letter to some or all of your loved ones. Your executor is a good person to entrust with that letter, or tell them where to find it. This will be especially important if there will be “surprises” in your will, such as excluded children or the inclusion of lovers, past or present. Such bombshells could set the whole family fighting and result in litigation. A final, informal letter may be your best and only opportunity to explain your decisions.

4. The little things. Your will should be as specific as possible about the disposition of financial assets: real estate, investment accounts, cars, jewelry, artwork. But you may have things that aren’t financial assets that you want someone in particular to have—maybe photos or other mementos you want to go to a child or grandchild. Tell your executor about those items.

5. The burn box. If you have skeletons in the closet and you want them to stay there, you want to have someone you trust to dispose of them after you pass. Whether it’s letters from past or current lovers, embarrassing photos, or worse, the unfinished vampire musical you were writing for the last 20 years, tell your executor where that stuff is, with specific instructions to destroy it.

Your goal in all of this is to facilitate an easy and complete dissolution of the estate. The easier you make the job for your executor, the more likely you’ll accomplish that goal, without setting your family members at each other’s throats or ending up with legal battles that go on for years and consume the entire estate.

Sources

1. Waters, Sharon, “How to Be a Good Executor,” AARP Bulletin, May 2021.