Naming Two Personal Representatives for Your Estate Is a Bad Idea
Your will tells the probate court who will inherit your property after you die, including which heirs will inherit specific assets or which ones will inherit which fraction of your money. Of course, the way wills work is that, by the time the court is ready to follow the instructions, you are no longer around to make sure that it follows them correctly. The probate court must appoint a living person to act as personal representative of your estate; the personal representative of a deceased person’s estate is also sometimes called the executor of the decedent’s will. You should indicate in your will who you wish to be the personal representative of your estate; otherwise, it will be the probate court’s decision. Although it is legal to designate more than one person as personal representative, probate is much simpler when only one person fulfills this role. If you have the unenviable task of serving as personal representative of a family member’s estate jointly with another person, contact a Dade City probate lawyer.
One Neutral Party Is a Better Personal Representative Than Two Feuding or Co-Dependent Family Members
Most people list only one personal representative in their wills. When they choose two, it is usually because of one of two scenarios. In the first, the testator has exactly two children and wishes to treat them equally, fearing that it will cause conflict if he or she lists only one child as personal representative. This often backfires, however, because no matter how good the siblings’ relationship was while the testator was alive, probate puts them into a stressful situation where they must cooperate on financial decisions in ways they have never done before, even if the siblings work together in a family business. If you can’t choose which of your children should be the personal representative of your estate, choose a neutral party, such as your estate planning lawyer.
In the second scenario, the testator designates his or her spouse and one child to share the responsibilities of being a personal representative. The motivation for this is that the testator doesn’t want the spouse to be overwhelmed by the task of personal representative, especially if the spouse is elderly. A better solution, though, is to name just one personal representative and for the personal representative to hire a probate lawyer if he or she needs help.
Name One Personal Representative and One Successor Personal Representative
Of course, the problem with naming only one personal representative is that the personal representative may predecease the testator when the testator is too elderly and infirm to write a new will. To avoid this problem, name one personal representative, who will take on the task single-handedly if he or she outlives you, and a successor personal representative who will take on the role if the original personal representative predeceases you.
Contact a Florida Estate Planning Attorney About Personal Representative Questions
A probate attorney can help guide you through the probate process if you are a reluctant personal representative. Contact The Law Office of Laurie R. Chane in Dade City, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
smartasset.com/estate-planning/co-executor
