Anthony S. Park

We’ve talked before about why Solo Ager estate plans must be frictionless. Same goes for a bitcoin inheritance plan, even more so.

The best inheritance plan is the one that actually exists

In general, 60 to 70% of people have no will or estate plan at all. Why don’t they have an estate plan?

44% is due to procrastination - “I have time; I’ll get to it later.”

25% of people are not sure where to start.

13% say that it is too expensive to create an estate plan.

In the New York City area, the cost to set up an estate plan with an attorney ranges from $1,500 to $4,000. Especially if you don’t have the liquid funds available, it’s an understandable hesitation.

Making an inheritance plan is a series of tough decisions

We only have a limited amount of brain power for decision-making per day! Creating an inheritance plan uses a lot of that decision-making fuel. For example, do you start with a lawyer or do it yourself? If you choose a lawyer, do you know a good lawyer? Now you’re spending time and energy asking for referrals and setting up consultations. If you choose to make the plan yourself, what software will you use?

Once you decide on hiring an attorney vs. a DIY plan, do you want a will or do you want a will and a trust? There are many legal decisions to make as you develop your plan.

Next, who will inherit your estate? With a nuclear family, this will probably be straightforward. But, perhaps you want to add charities, friends, etc. You will need to decide what amount to give to each beneficiary.

Who will be your executor or trustee? If you have minor children, who will be their guardians?

These are just the major things you have to think about when planning your estate. Once you make it through one decision, you have to move on to the next. It’s easy to see why so many people put off making an estate plan.

Bitcoin custody adds more decisions to your inheritance plan

How will you hold your Bitcoin while you are alive to make it easier to transfer upon your death? How (technically) will that custody transfer to your executor when you die? There are technical logistics that you don’t have to worry about with legacy assets.

Will transfer actually work? From my conversations with various bitcoiners, many seem a bit overconfident that their bitcoin inheritance plan will work seamlessly. In our experience, even common assets, like stocks and bank accounts, have problems transferring easily, let alone something like bitcoin, where your heirs are probably very unfamiliar.

Have you compromised your existing security too much to make your plan happen when you die (meaning, is it a bit too easy to make a transaction while you’re alive)? On the flip side, have you compromised your existing convenience too much to make your plan as secure as possible (meaning, is it a pain to make a simple transaction now)?

Who in your life understands bitcoin custody, probate, and taxes well enough to be your executor? Chances are that you don’t know someone knowledgeable in all of those areas. This is where we can help as professional executors.

Most importantly, remember, the best inheritance plan is one that actually exists. You have to have something, or else you have nothing!

To learn more about probate, check out my book, “How Probate Works,” available on Amazon. It doesn’t address bitcoin specifically, but it can help you understand what’s involved in administering an estate. Hopefully soon, I will complete my bitcoin inheritance book!

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Folks who are interested in naming me as their professional executor ask how much it costs to get started. There is no cost! We’ll explain why, what you get, and what to expect.

It’s just a nomination

At this point, you are healthy and just being responsible by making your estate plan. When you name me as trustee in your trust or as executor in your will, it’s just a nomination; I haven't done any work yet. Besides, you can always change your will and I may never become your executor or trustee, depending how you make your plan.

Not your estate planning lawyer

To be clear, I’m not your estate planning lawyer. I’ve done estate plans before, and I am very familiar with what needs to be done. Nowadays, I’ve narrowed down my expertise and I am focused on being the best possible executor or trustee after folks have passed. Some people ask if I can draft their wills or trusts anyway, and the answer is unfortunately no. I no longer have the software, fancy paper, etc. to do wills.

Consider it a good thing that I don’t split my time between preparing wills and acting as a professional executor. It means that I am dedicated to providing the best service as your executor.

Also, as an experienced executor, I know how things will happen at the end. When reading a will, I can foresee what issues will arise because of the way it is written. When you nominate me as your executor, I am happy to take a look at your will as a second set of eyes. Again, this review would be non-legal advice, because I am not your estate planning attorney. But, I will be the one to carry out your wishes. When reviewing your estate plan, I look for any red flags that may make my job harder as your executor. As a side note, we don’t usually find many red flags, because many people work with competent estate planning attorneys.

Complimentary check-ins

As we’ve discussed before, we offer complimentary annual check-ins. We do this to make sure I’m alive and you’re alive! It’s also useful to get to know each other over the years. You want an executor who is familiar with you and your wishes, based on more than just one meeting or phone call. As we talk, I might discover that you’ve grown distant from certain relatives or perhaps you made a new best friend later in life. These things could be useful when carrying out your will or even defending your estate plan.

Since I am not doing any work for your estate yet, we keep the calls brief. Sometimes it’s just an email. But it’s a good reminder for you to think about your plan at least once a year.

This is a common question that we get, but if you have any other questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments. To learn more about what I do as a professional executor, check out my book, “How to Hire a Professional Executor,” available on Amazon.

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Barring a terminal illness or physician-assisted death, it’s very hard to know when you will die. The world changes very quickly, and you do not know what the world will be like at the time of your death. For example, there were no iPhones two decades ago, and now look how technology has evolved.

So, to future-proof your plan, you must keep it as flexible as possible.

Inheritance plan vs actual circumstances

In general, your estate plan will be different from the actual circumstances upon your passing. For example:

1. Your beneficiaries and your executor may be very old or may not be alive. Or, your relationships with them may have changed.
2. Your beneficiary is wealthier than you anticipated and you may not want to leave as much money to them anymore.
3. Your assets have changed. Say you plan to give your nephew 10% of your bitcoin. But, when you pass, your bitcoin is worth way more than you ever imagined. Now that 10% is a pretty hefty chunk of change, and you didn’t intend to leave your nephew quite that much.
4. Most people do not have an estate plan at all, and even the ones who have a will or a trust don’t update them. Supposedly, 70% of plans are not up to date and 20% of them haven't been updated in 5 years or more. That’s a lot of people with ex-girlfriends still named as beneficiaries in their estate plan... But, let’s be realistic: if we didn’t do estates for a living, we’d probably forget, too!
5. No matter how much you plan for your death, there is a general chaos surrounding the probate process. You don’t know who will be alive, who will cause drama, or who will sue the estate because they are upset about how you wrote your will. People think that their heirs and beneficiaries will be cordial, but when money is involved, you never know.

Bitcoin evolves quickly

Bitcoin is a young asset, and it is still in a very fast evolutionary stage. Bitcoin has gone from your wallet being only available on your own node (if you run core software), to paper wallets where you write or print out your code/seed phrase/key, to HDD, to multisig wallets.

And that’s just wallets! Now you have second and third layers from Lightning and Arc coming on. There are more people with their own nodes now. Who knows what’s next? Will you update with each evolution? Unlikely. So, your plan needs to be able to adapt to the circumstances surrounding your death.

Even our Bitcoin podcasts have evolved over the past few years!

When to automate?

One of the main points in using Bitcoin is to eliminate trusted third-parties and middlemen. In general, automation is best suited for predictable and repeating tasks such as regular billing, social media posts, or other high volume tasks.

But there are certain circumstances where it’s not wise to use automation. Using automation is a poor choice when the task requires decision-making; it’s the opposite of predictable and repeating. You do not want to automate your estate plan. As we discussed above, you do not know what the world or your family tree will be like upon your passing.

In traditional, legacy estate plans, beneficiary designations don’t work very well. It is a form of automation to say, “Upon my death, everything will go to this person.” Avoiding legal fees and probate sounds great, but you are assuming that your plan will be up to date. You’re assuming that the amount in the bank account at the time of your death is the amount you want that beneficiary to get. More often than not, this scenario doesn’t shake out the way you hoped.

A custodial Bitcoin solution means naming a beneficiary on your Kraken or Binance account. But when automating a non-custodial Bitcoin inheritance plans (like a time-lock, letter of instruction, sharding, etc.), you have frozen in time an inflexible solution for a situation that requires great flexibility.

For probate in general, as well as Bitcoin, it is more important to rely on a human executor who can assess the situation and make the appropriate decisions. In probate, the executor may have to deal with a bureaucrat or a government employee who is asking them to do something ridiculous to get the information needed for the estate. You need a human being who can perceive that the instructions are strange and find a way to get the job done. That’s the difference from being stuck in a non-flexible system that doesn't have decision making capabilities.

In conclusion, your Bitcoin inheritance plan needs to be as flexible as possible to adapt to the evolution of Bitcoin and our ever-changing world.

To learn more about probate, check out my book, “How Probate Works,” available on Amazon. It doesn’t address Bitcoin specifically, but it can help you understand what’s involved in administering an estate. Hopefully soon, I will complete my Bitcoin inheritance book!

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Physician-Assisted Dying has other names that might be familiar: death with dignity, aid in dying, assisted death, euthanasia, and assisted suicide

Since we’ve received many inquiries from our Solo Agers, here some of your FAQs:

Making arrangements from Switzerland

Can my professional executor help make arrangements from Switzerland after I pass?

Switzerland is often the go-to jurisdiction, but there may be others in the U.S. The medical facilities need to know who to notify upon death, and we have filled the role as the entity to be notified. You also need to make arrangements to send final personal effects (phone, wallet) after your passing. Again, we have been in that role before, and we have coordinated the receipt of the personal belongings.

Live your last days to the fullest

If you are scheduling a physician-assisted death, you have to weigh the balance between preparing and living your life to the fullest.

We get calls from Solo Agers who are very focused on preparing and tying up any loose ends (cleaning out and selling their home). Our advice is to go ahead and take care of the low-stress items but leave the rest to us. It is our job to figure things out upon your passing, and it’s very unlikely that you will think of everything that needs to be done anyway. There is a limit to how much you will be able to help us, no matter how hard you try. Most folks have not gone through probate enough to know what needs to be done, so it’s better to let us handle it. Most people pass away unexpectedly and most things are generally unorganized anyway.

Instead, do your best to enjoy your remaining time and complete that bucket list!

To disclose or not to disclose

Do I need to tell my executor that I plan to have a physician-assisted death? It’s totally up to you; we’ve dealt with both.

Telling us helps us be ready on the scheduled date. But if you prefer your privacy, it’s no problem; we’ve done that too. Most deaths are unexpected, so we are used to it.

Perhaps your loved ones don’t know that your death was planned. As professional executors, we know how to handle the situation tactfully.

Click the link below to check out my book, “The Solo Ager Estate Plan.” This topic is not covered specifically in my book, but it will help you learn more about probate in general.

Complete this form to receive your complimentary copy of Anthony’s Amazon best-seller, “The Solo Ager Estate Plan”

 

Should you look for a broker or lawyer first when selling a probate property? With non-probate home sales, brokers are the first to list, set an open house, and find a great buyer. Lawyers only get involved once a buyer is in place and a deal is struck. The lawyer then drafts the contract and conducts the closing.

But with probate, talking to a lawyer first makes more sense. Here’s why:

Talk to a probate lawyer first when selling a home

It’s important to talk with a probate lawyer, because you need to know who has the authority to sell the home. The lawyer can also tell you whether the estate needs to be probated. Not every estate needs probate: maybe the house is titled a certain way or it is held in a trust. Or, maybe you live in an area where the title company accepts “heirs at law” affidavits. These situations are best analyzed by a probate attorney.

How long will it take to get started? How much will it cost? The answers to these questions will determine what type of broker you will work with.

A probate attorney will walk you through the estate debts, taxes, etc. You may not want to go through the hassle of selling the probate property if there is only a small fraction of the estate left over after debts and taxes.

There are some pre-steps that a probate lawyer (or a good broker) can help with:

1. Hiring a title company to confirm who owns the property and check for major judgements or liens.
2. Talking to co-op management and HOAs to see if there are any red flags.

When to speak with a broker first to sell probate property

Brokers are good at figuring out how much you can reasonably expect to sell the house for. Is there enough value to deal with the mess?

A downside of talking to a broker first is that too often, they are eager to get a new deal but they don’t understand the estate situation. The broker may not realize that the person they are speaking with does not have the legal authority to hire them. At that point, you’ve wasted your time and the broker’s time if you do not have the legal authority to sign a listing agreement, etc.

Sometimes selling probate property does not require a broker. You can avoid the broker’s commission if you sell the home to an heir, a neighbor, or a cash investor. A probate lawyer can advise on this, so it will probably save money to meet with a lawyer first.

We see this happen a lot, so we want to share our tips with anyone who is looking to sell probate property. Meet with a probate lawyer first so that you can get proper guidance. To learn more about probate, check out my book, “How Probate Works,” available on Amazon.

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How much does a professional executor cost? Most people are surprised to learn that executor fees are the same whether you choose an experienced professional or your unemployed nephew who has lots of spare time. When people realize that they are paying the same cost, they will probably choose a professional executor.

In fact, your estate will probably even save on expenses with a professional vs.an amateur.

Executor fees set by state law

Executor fees are almost always set by state law, whether it is a percentage of the estate or a reasonable fee. The percentage often works out to 2-3% of the estate’s value, which is less than half of a broker’s commission in most states. Some states use the “reasonable fee” standard, and the court accepts a customary percentage as “reasonable.”

Sometimes the reasonable fee is an hourly rate that the court deems acceptable. If you have an amateur executor, the hourly rate can get pretty expensive. If the executor doesn’t know much about probate, it will take him longer to accomplish tasks than a professional executor. Sometimes amateur family/friend executors attract more drama. The heirs are more likely to contest the fees, and the executor may not get paid at all.

Professional executor save time and expenses

As with anything else, a person who has done something hundreds of times is probably better at it than someone who has never tried. A professional executor is experienced, efficient, and has the right contacts. A professional executor knows the person to speak with at the bank rather than talking to 17 different banks. He knows which court clerk is the surly one and which one will push your paperwork through. He also knows which vendors have the best value for the cost (cleaning crews, painters, contractors, accountants, etc.).

A professional executor also knows which services are not necessary. For example, staging an apartment for sale is expensive, but usually not necessary. We’ve seen staging bills as high as $20,000! As an heir, I’d be upset that my inheritance went to pay for something like that. Some contractors pitch pretty extensive renovations, like a marble countertop. Because it’s not their money or their house, some executors go into HGTV-mode.  There is no need to knock out the walls; we just need to clean the home and make it look like it hasn’t been lived in for 40 years.

There are circumstances where it’s beneficial to stage and renovate a home, but not for estates. The longer a probate property sits around, the more it will cost the estate.

How much do banks charge to be executors?

Banks are the exception; they will sometimes ask for special language in the will or trust opting out of state law and getting higher fees with higher minimums. A large entity, like a bank, doesn't want to be bothered with small estates and small fees.

On top of that, most banks won’t agree to be your executor unless you have a decent amount of liquid money invested in their bank. We made a recent call to a bank who refused to act as executor for a $2.5 million estate. Even if you have enough money to qualify, you still need to wait for their risk analysts and committees to accept. It is a long process…IF they even accept. you.

As you can see, it’s more cost-efficient to hire a professional executor than to choose your unemployed nephew. So if you don’t want to burden a relative or friend with the task, please check out my book, “How to Hire a Professional Executor,” available on Amazon.

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A deadman’s switch is a seemingly elegant and trustless solution for bitcoin inheritance. But if you think it through, it currently has too many problems to work securely.

A deadman’s switch is a protocol or mechanism where, if the creator misses a periodic check-in (ex. push a button every 3 months, reply to a monthly email, etc.), it's assumed the creator has died and will trigger an event.

Types of bitcoin dead man switches

With the first type of deadman's, upon failure to press the button, a pre-loaded transaction executes. Imagine that you set up your E*Trade account to sell a certain number of shares for a certain amount. Similarly, everything is “loaded up” in your bitcoin deadman’s switch, and the pre-loaded transaction automatically executes if the check-in is missed. What happens if you miss the check-in not because you are dead, but because you forgot? It all depends how you set up your plan. So it would be wise to have multiple check-ins required before the event is triggered.

With another type of bitcoin deadman’s switch, upon failure to press the button, a secret gets delivered. The secret may be your seed phrase or pass phrase, and gets delivered by email, telegram, or phone call or sms text. to your heir or executor.

Problems with a deadman’s switch that executes a bitcoin transaction

First, this creates a beneficiary problem. Even in non-bitcoin scenarios, people name beneficiaries on their accounts in order to bypass probate and distribute the account directly to the beneficiary without any supervision.

The problem with naming beneficiaries on your life insurance, IRA, etc. is that people often forget who their beneficiaries are and they forget to update their beneficiary designations. Maybe they named an ex-girlfriend or a since-disowned relative.

Bitcoin is also ever-changing and could be worth way more or less at the time of your death. You won’t know for sure how much your beneficiary will receive from this pre-loaded transaction. That’s a hard thing to try to keep up to date.

If you forget about this pre-loaded transaction and it’s not up to date, it probably conflicts with the rest of your estate plan. Say your plan was for Alice, Bob, and Charlie to each get a third of your wealth. You figure that your stocks are worth about 1/3, your bitcoin is about 1/3, and your house is about 1/3. It seems clever enough to leave one of those to each of the beneficiaries, right? What happens if the assets fluctuate wildly in value in the remaining years until your death? Now your heirs won’t receive equal shares of your wealth like you intended.

Another problem is that your bitcoin is stuck in the UTXO, which is a problem for creating pre-loaded transactions. You can’t move the UTXO without setting up a new deadman’s switch. It’s like having a bank account that can only have a beneficiary designation as long as you never withdraw or deposit into that account. You can never move the account to another bank. This only makes sense for the portion of your bitcoin that you plan to keep in deep cold storage. It's like a treasure chest that you bury.

The last problem with this plan is that the transaction must execute to an heir’s wallet. What if your heir doesn't have a bitcoin wallet? Even if you set up a wallet for them, will they know how to use it? Do they know how to secure their seed phrase? You can set up a custody wallet on an exchange like Coinbase, Kraken, or Gemini. But most bitcoiners with self-custody don’t want their bitcoin going into a third-party wallet for their heirs.

Problems with a deadman switch that delivers a bitcoin secret

This plan has horrible operational security. You must write the secret (seed phrase, pass phrase, PIN) on a hot (online) computer. You must be able to trust the service’s servers, encryption, etc. And remember that the secret will be delivered via email, telegram, phone call, or sms text. This plan does everything you’re told not to do with self-custody operational security.

You could instead use a multisig or shard your seed and give pieces to different people. But if you use those solutions, then you don’t even need a deadman’s switch. Why add another layer of complexity to a complex situation?

A deadman’s switch seems attractive, because you don't have to trust anyone. But if you walk mentally through the scenario, you can see that using a deadman’s switch isn’t a great solution. Probate is a complicated process and adding bitcoin to the mix brings a whole new level of complexity. To learn more, check out my book, “How Probate Works,” available on Amazon.

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Our Solo Agers friends often ask this when they’re ready to name me executor in their will. We support well-done DIY wills and anything that helps make your plan as frictionless as possible. Some kind of plan is almost always better than no plan!

So, do you need a lawyer to make a will? No, we’re not aware of any state that requires a lawyer to make your will. We do nonetheless recommend that our Solo Agers at least hire a lawyer to supervise the signing. Here’s why:

Signing ceremony technicalities

A signing ceremony sounds like a long, drawn-out event, but it could last as little as 15 minutes. Still, there are many technicalities to follow, or else the will may be invalid.

Just a few examples, the person making the will (the testator) has to make a proper declaration in the will. The pages of the will must also be stapled together, or else there is a potential for page-swapping. Lastly, to demonstrate that the testator is competent to sign a will, lawyers often chit-chat about current events with the testator. If testimony is ever needed to prove that the testator is competent, then the witnesses can refer back to that conversation.

If any of the technicalities go wrong, then the will may be invalid. Yes, DIY services provide detailed instructions for drafting your will, but most people don’t follow instructions to a T (or even read the instructions). It’s easy to miss a step and invalidate the whole will.

It’s much easier to get an experienced attorney to supervise the signing. It’s also cheaper than hiring an attorney to draft your entire estate plan.

Lawyer-supervised presumptions

In many states, the probate court will give the benefit of the doubt if the signing was supervised by a lawyer.

For example, the court is more likely to accept a self-proving affidavit signed by your witnesses, instead of requiring the witnesses to appear in court to testify. Suppose you die 15 years later...tracking down the witnesses, getting them to agree to come to court, and having them accurately recollect your signing ceremony would be very hard. There is no guarantee that they will remember that day or even still be alive.

Without the lawyer supervision and the self-proving affidavit, it may be harder for your executor to probate your estate.

Best will witnesses

DIY wills often use subpar witnesses. It’s natural to want to ask family and friends to witness, because they are close to you. Using a witness who is named in the will or who could potentially inherit your estate creates a conflict of interest. Their testimony as a witness won’t hold up well in court because they have beneficial interest.

But, it’s also not the best idea to grab a passer-by as a witness (UPS delivery person, doorman, bank teller). If you don’t even know the witness, chances are it will be hard for your heirs to find them if ever needed. Sometimes the address they provide is the physical address where they signed!

For these reasons, lawyers will provide their own experienced witnesses (paralegals, other staff, the lawyer’s spouse, etc.). These people have witnessed wills many times before and can give good testimony if needed.

If you decide to do your own will, at least have the signing supervised by an experienced attorney. For more answers to your estate planning questions, click the link below to receive your free electronic copy of my book, “The Solo Ager Estate Plan.”

Complete this form to receive your complimentary copy of Anthony’s Amazon best-seller, “The Solo Ager Estate Plan”

 

Why do heirs suddenly need to sell probate real estate? We see cases where years, even generations, have elapsed since the real estate owner has died, and nothing has been done. So why, all of a sudden, do the heirs seek a lawyer or professional executor? Here are the top 5 reasons we’ve seen.

1. Bad economies mean heirs need money

When there’s a recession, our office gets busier. It seems that when times are tough, people want large, lump sums of cash (rather than a theoretical portion of an estate).

It’s a bit counter-intuitive, since real estate prices are often down at these times and heirs would have to sell low. The heirs figure that even though the sale price is lower than in a strong economy, at least they’ll get some cash.

2. More deaths means more complications

As more and more family members pass, heirs see how increasingly complicated probate will be.

For example, mom died and left the house and 4 kids who all get along. The 4 kids don’t probate, but agree amongst themselves who will perform upkeep, who will collect rent, and how the rent will be divided. But then the kid in charge of upkeep dies and now no one is officially in charge of upkeep. Then the one in charge of making sure there is a tenant also dies, so his kids move in. Now there is tension among the family members who don’t all agree with the arrangement. You may not think your family will have these problems, but when money is involved, it can get messy.

Once the original heirs start passing and those who were not part of the initial arrangement get involved, problems can snowball quickly. At this point, it is just easier to sell the real estate before it gets more complicated.

3. Tenant problems

For example, grandma owned a rental property and for years after grandma’s death, tenants paid like clockwork. But for whatever reason the tenants stop paying. It happens all the time. It’s easy to stop paying rent and stay in the house when no one is enforcing payments. The heirs will find that they can’t take legal action until they start probate and get a court-appointed executor.

Sometimes the tenants learn that no one is legally in charge yet, and that’s why they stop paying. It could be at least a year before an executor is appointed by the court. So, there’s at least a year rent-free. As a side note, often these non-paying tenants are also heirs. Oh, the humanity!

4. Creditor, co-op demands, no longer self-sustaining

Sometimes heirs miss or ignore bills, then the creditors eventually get active. Just imagine an heir being diligent about paying all of the bills, but totally forgot about the water bill. Rather than the company shutting off the water, there is a giant outstanding bill after a decade. Sometimes an estate debt is so large that there is no choice but to sell the real estate.

Or sometimes a co-op board looks the other way for a while, but now wants things done correctly and the estate needs to be probated.

Maybe the rent used to be enough to cover all bills, but as time elapsed it’s not quite enough anymore. Maybe you didn’t raise the rent enough, or inflation caused your expenses to skyrocket. Now you have real estate that is generating a loss.

5. Property damage or disrepair

A major storm may cause costly damage. Other problems that tend to emerge when the property is not owner-occupied could be mold, old/leaky roof, or floor/foundation problems.

Maybe none of the heirs have the funds to fix these major problems to bring the home up to rentable status. If there are no other funds and the heirs don’t want to deal with it, then maybe it’s time to sell.

Probate Book

These are the most common reasons we’ve seen for heirs to sell real estate quickly. Two good books on the subject are, “How Probate Works” and “How to Hire an Executor,” both available on Amazon.

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When we chat with new clients, we ask them why they chose to look for and hire a professional executor. Here are the 5 most common answers. Perhaps you will see yourself in one of these situations.

1.  There’s no one else

There may not be any close family or friends due to old age or because the client is a Solo Ager. Or maybe a client does have close family and friends, but they do not live nearby, they have no time, or they are not financially savvy.

2. Went through being an executor and hated it

We have clients who served as executors and hated it. Because they hated being an executor, there is no way they want to burden a loved one with the task.

It could be the other way around: the friend or family member who they want to nominate was already an executor once and hated it, too.

3. Fees are the same, so you may as well get a professional

Once clients realize that the executor fee is exactly the same for a professional executor versus a family member or friend, they can’t believe it! In most states, the law is the same. Whether it’s your unemployed nephew who needs money to start a rock band versus a seasoned professional with an experienced staff versus a bank: If you have that choice and the fees are going to be the same, why wouldn’t you name a professional executor?

In fact, hiring a professional executor may even cost less. An experienced and professional staff can reduce costs due to economies of scale, better deals with vendors, etc. We minimize a lot of losses because we can often do things quicker.

4. Banks won’t take the client or charge fees or require certain investments

Many come to us after being rejected by their bank/brokerage, even if they have plenty of money and have been loyal customers for years.

Or sometimes, they are in the process of getting the bank to agree to serve as executor. But there are so many layers of committees and approvals from the bank. Those people come to us because we provide a more personal experience. With a bank, you’ll never talk to the person who will be the executor; it’s just “the bank.”

Lastly, people don’t like the bank’s requirement that a certain amount of money must be invested with them to qualify. You probably need between $3 million and $5 million just to talk to the bank. The bank also requires very specific investments: your money has to be invested in Brokerage Account “A” and the underlying investments must be in the Brokerage's created funds. To put it bluntly, this is how banks can charge more fees.

5. Age gap siblings

This is similar to our #1 reason above, but more often we are seeing age gap siblings. Since we’ve been seeing this specific situation more often, we thought it was worth mentioning as its own reason. For whatever family reason, we’re seeing clients whose next closest sibling is 25 years older or younger! They don’t have a tight relationship due to the large age gap.

On the other hand, we have clients whose siblings are almost the same age, which doesn’t give an elderly client much hope that a fellow elderly sibling will be able to fulfill the duties of an executor. You want someone who will survive you or be young enough to handle stressful situations.

These are all great reasons to check out my book, “How to Hire an Executor,” available on Amazon. If you are part of our monthly email list, we give away one free paperback copy a month!

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