Who should be the will executor for my mom?
Answers
Your mom is wrestling with a common problem. Just as she didn’t want to show favoritism among her daughters during her lifetime by consistently giving one of you the biggest piece of pie or the latest curfew, she wants you to feel equal—or at least equalish—treatment coming from her after her death.
The attorney who wrote up your mom’s will is just giving out a common warning learned in law school based on the fact that after your mom’s death, all three of you executors would have to agree on every decision concerning distributing her estate. And to add another potential crimp, out of state executors in some states have to post bond before they’re allowed to serve.
That warned and written, however, your mom is still free to appoint all three of you jointly if that is her true wish.
There are a number of possible actions to take:
- Leave the will as is, and assure your mom that the three of you will cooperate in your duties when the time requires it. While it’s not possible to guarantee this stellar behavior, of course—and the prospect of property can cause even the coziest of siblings to turn on one another—many family members are able to do just this.
- Ask your mom to consider dividing up her estate planning duties—perhaps appointing one of you as executor of her will, another as the agent in her power of attorney for healthcare, another as her agent in a power of attorney for finances.
- Your mom could also consider appointing a third person—a family friend or an institutional party as you suggest—to serve as the executor, removing the issue from the siblings’ plates.
I thought that executors simply carried out the will - there aren't that many decisions. Executors cannot override what is in the will, after all.
