This thread may not be conventionally fit into this category but my out of box thinking led me here. The issue is about choosing executioner who "become CEO" of your estate according to this article, when you are close to doing. There are lot of advises but I inclined to disregard them all as misguided. The best IMO, choice person can take when choosing executor is spread the risk and choosing single entity, be it an individual, close relative, friend or institiion, bank, financial adviser carries inherent risk. My opinion on this, how about you divide your assets into multiple chunks and assign different executioner each of them so that one of them becomes fail, untrusty and pulls a fast one on you, you have mitigated the risk by alternatives. Say, if you got 1,000,000$ in assets and divide into 4 chunks of each consisiting of 250k and assign 4 different entities. If one of them fail, your loss is limited to 250k, and you still remain with 750k. That is much better than assigning a single executor for all your assets of 1,000,000$ and when he/she turns back on you, you lose everything, potentially. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/i...anage-my-last-wishes-2020-10-02?mod=home-page
Your best bet is to assign specific benefactors to all of your financial accounts, and leave as little as possible for the executors to do. Joint accounts with right of survivorship also work well.
Your concern is valid, but there are other ways to address that concern. , The word executioner means someone who performs an execution, and that means killing someone. The correct term is executor. And the term benefactor, used in one of the replies, refers to someone who gives money away, usually to a charitable organization. The correct term for someone who receives money from your estate is beneficiary. These mistakes are excusable if English is not your first language. In the USA, you cannot "divide your assets into multiple chunks and assign a different executor to each of them." The system is not designed to operate that way. You cannot have more than one last will and testament. You cannot have one will for your main home, and another will for your Lamborghini, and another will for your vacation home. You can only have one will. That's because you only have one estate. And in general, you can only have one executor. In most states in the USA, it is possible to name two or three people as co-executors, giving them joint and collective authority over the entire estate. This means that if there is a problem or difference of opinion on how to handle something specific, they have to vote on it, and the matter is decided by a simple majority. But that kind of situation is relatively rare. Executors must follow the instructions in your will, and the must follow the state laws. So if you name three co-executors, and two of them want to do something that is illegal, or conflicts with your will, they won't "win" by "outvoting" the other executor. The other executor can go to court, and get a judge to order them to comply with the law and follow what is written in the will. Having two or three co-executors should provide the necessary checks and balances to insure that none of them goes against your wishes or against the law. But it is important to understand that you are still writing only one will, and you have only one estate, and your co-executors collectively have control over the entire estate. You can't have more than one will, and you can't have more than one estate. The other solution is to use trusts. You can't have more than one will, but you can set up as many trusts as you want, and each trust can have a different trustee. Whether you go with a will, or a trust, or some combination of them, you should not try to do this on your own, using forms you get from a website. You need an experienced estate planning attorney. If you choose the do-it-yourself option, no one will know if you got it right, and if it actually works, until after you are dead. And if it doesn't work right because you screwed up the forms, it will likely be impossible to fix it. Once you are dead, it is too late to make changes. You get what you pay for. Would you do your own surgery?? Legal matters are no different. BMK
Yes you can have multiple wills, but don't try doing it with legal help. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/can-i-have-more-than-one-will.html Also, see why you may not want multiple executors. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/naming-more-one-executor.html
thanks for you guys but DAVEV and BMK, you guys' statement literally contradicts each other not sure which one to follow. One says cant have more than one will but other one says you can. Same for executors. Although both of you guys' statement do make sense.
Me, I hire most executioners at day break, wearing dark clothes and with cold blooded accuracy. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.... Probate is a very medieval endeavor. Lawyers are always needed. Yet they are never trustworthy of putting your interest first. Family members always fight over wills regardless. So, lawyers dig in deep in this area of law. Very much like divorce court. Only the lawyers win. Yet, the financial planners are even more crooked. No such thing as a true revocable trust. You always have to put all the assets into the "trust name" before the person dies "and this is what the financial planners and estate lawyers don't want you to know". Use the trust name as the beneficiary for your brokerage account(s). Keep most of the checking and savings in an estate bank account because the bank will freeze everything in your individual accounts when you pass away. You basically have to install trusted family members as principles of the assets along with you, before you die. Assign family members and/or relatives as executives in the trust just as a corp. You can always have co-CEOs. You can have co-CEOs and also a president all in the same trust. Make the corp rules state that they all have to agree and sign together before assets can be disposed of and before monies can be dispersed. Build in a clause that commits' them to arbitration to help settle indifferences between the CEOs instead of lawyers and court. Treat the trust as a corp because the govt sure will. Allow the corp to survive after you die, because if you don't, the lawyers will carve it up for you.
%% Exactly; do your giving while you're living; then you're knowing where its going. Spell checkers may help with life also; estate lawyer may help/LOL/true
Thanks benefactors are unheard when i was working with my trust. Who would be benefactors in this case? Someone I am close? Joint account with survivorship sounds nice too. However, I would not want the other person go crazy one day blow up my account while I am still alive In general, it is right that it is better to make descendants to make them become humane, considerate and educated and teach dangers of greed, then there is a less need for inheritance and thus fighting, history already teaches it.
The correct term is beneficiary, and it refers to someone who receives money or property from your will or from a trust.
yes that is what i bit confused with. Benefactors is the one providing benefit and beneficiary is at the receiving end.