The executor of an estate has an important job. He or she has been entrusted to follow the wishes of the deceased, and it is important that the executor understands the expectations set in the will, understands the law in the presiding state, and is able to adhere to both as much as possible.<\/p>\n
The executor has eight main tasks:<\/p>\n
Every county has a procedure for introducing the will into the local surrogate\u2019s court.<\/p>\n
Typically, the executor must provide the original will, an official death certificate, the required information about the deceased, the names and address of the next of kin and the beneficiaries, and the required identification information about the executor.<\/p>\n
If the court accepts all the documents, then it will issue the Letters Testamentary and the Executor Short Certificates. This documentation establishes that the executor can act on behalf of the estate, and it will be needed when interacting with different fiduciaries or institutions on behalf of the estate.<\/p>\n
Once the court accepts the will into probate, the executor must notify the next of kin and the beneficiaries. The executor must also make a copy of the will available to them upon request.<\/p>\n
New Jersey requires that notice be sent through certified mail. New Jersey also has a time limit for notifying beneficiaries. The clock starts once the will has been accepted into probate.<\/p>\n
An attorney can help make sure that the executor meets any statutory deadlines. An attorney can also help if a beneficiary\u2019s address is unknown or cannot be found.<\/p>\n
Once the necessary parties have been noticed, the executor must turn over to the court proof that the beneficiaries received proper notice and that they received the notice in time.<\/p>\n
The executor must find all assets that the decedent owned. If these are probate assets, the executor must get control of them so they can be used to pay off the decedent\u2019s debts. The rest can be distributed in accordance with the will.<\/p>\n
Unless the decedent had prepared his or her estate planning documents through a specialized estate planning firm that prepared a comprehensive asset spreadsheet as part of the estate plan, it is hard to know what the decedent owned or how to get control of it. Moreover, the decedent could have lived in different states or countries having different assets in different places. Sometimes, the custodian of the property is not cooperative. An attorney can be helpful if you are having trouble locating the decedent\u2019s assets or getting estate assets released.<\/p>\n
New Jersey has specific rules about the order of priority when it comes to paying the decedent\u2019s debts. It is important that the executor pays the bills in the correct order because if the funds run out, and the executor paid lower priority bills before higher priority bills, the creditor could sue the executor for its loss.\u00a0 Additionally, the executor has to be aware of whether or not federal or state death taxes are due from the estate and must review the will to see who (the estate or the individual beneficiaries) are responsible for payment.<\/p>\n
In New Jersey, the costs of the administration are one of the higher priority bills, which includes any attorney\u2019s fees and the executor\u2019s commission. New Jersey also regulates how much the executor is allowed to be paid based on the size of the estate. If the estate is large or difficult to manage, it may make sense to hire an attorney to help with the administration and ensure that the proper procedures are followed.<\/p>\n
Depending on how long the estate will be kept open, the executor has a duty to report all income earned by the estate during this time. The deadline for this filing is based on either a calendar year or a fiscal year and must be reported on a Form 1041. NJ no longer has an estate tax, but if the worldwide assets of a decedent are greater than the exemption, or if the decedent was a NY resident with significant assets, then a federal estate tax return or NY state estate tax return may be due. Finally, where the estate assets are below the threshold, there may still be a need to file an estate tax return to elect portability.[1]<\/a> In these cases, it is extremely important that the executor review the will carefully to see who can pay the taxes\u2014the individual beneficiaries or the estate out of the residue.<\/p>\n Once the bills have been paid, the executor is to distribute the rest of the assets in accordance with the will. Not all gifts to beneficiaries have the same priority. There is a difference between an equal distribution of estate residue to the children of the decedent and giving specific assets\/bequests to specific beneficiaries.<\/p>\n It is important that the executor understands the difference and correctly distributes the assets, or else he or she can be held personally liable for any mistakes.<\/p>\n This is especially important when the executor is one of the beneficiaries. The executor has the ability to make decisions on behalf of the estate including liquidating assets and distributing the cash, he or she must act in accordance with the will. The executor cannot use his or her position to unfairly distribute assets or disadvantage another beneficiary. An attorney representing the estate can also act as a check to make sure the executor is not exceeding his or her authority. New Jersey also requires paperwork be completed before the distributions to the beneficiaries. This involves securing releases from all beneficiaries to avoid personal liability for the executor for nonpayment of taxes or for making distributions to beneficiaries with outstanding child support obligation subject to wage garnishment. An attorney can help prepare all of the needed forms and make sure everything is properly accounted for and signed.<\/p>\n Once the bills have been paid and the assets have been distributed, the executor should file any outstanding estate or inheritance tax paperwork, where applicable, and then close the estate by filing a final court filing.<\/p>\n Closing the estate is important because if the estate is left open, then the executor is still personally liable should any new creditors emerge or if any beneficiaries complain after accepting his or her share.<\/p>\n An estate administration will take at least nine months from the decedent\u2019s death until the estate can be closed. In some cases, the administration can take much longer, potentially years depending on the size of the estate, the number of beneficiaries involved, the location of the assets, or any complications that arise along the way (for example. if there is confusion as to ownership of any assets or if any provisions in the will are unclear).<\/p>\n An attorney can help the executor by ensuring the proper procedures are filed, that the required paperwork is completed and submitted, and by acting as a buffer between the executor and the next of kin, beneficiaries, or the fiduciaries and institutions involved. All of this can ultimately help save the executor time and stress during what will be a difficult situation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Portability refers to the act of taking over a deceased spouse\u2019s unused exemption which is to be added to the surviving spouse\u2019s exemption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The executor of an estate has an important job. He or she has been entrusted to follow the wishes of the deceased, and it is important that the executor understands<\/p>\n... continue reading<\/a>.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,3],"tags":[108,103,44,113,93,6,40,50,112,46,74,114,111,14,38,43,16],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estateelderplanning.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1845"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estateelderplanning.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estateelderplanning.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estateelderplanning.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estateelderplanning.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1845"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/estateelderplanning.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1846,"href":"https:\/\/estateelderplanning.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1845\/revisions\/1846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estateelderplanning.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estateelderplanning.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estateelderplanning.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Distributing the Remainder to the Beneficiaries<\/h2>\n
Closing the Estate<\/h2>\n
Final Remarks<\/h2>\n