Executor's Duties

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Thirsty

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I'm an executor for a will; the person hasn't passed away yet, but sadly it's looking like it won't be long.

They've asked me to take care of buying a grave and a few other details and that's been sorted.

I've been reading up on executor's duties and so on, and whilst there seems to be a bit of paper work involved I'm ok with all of that.

My question was more (at the risk of sounding selfish) to do with settling bills and funeral expenses and the like.

I know it will be paid from the estate, but until property is sold (and in this climate that could be a while) there won't be a lot of cash around.

How do I settle these bills?
 
Thirsty said:
I know it will be paid from the estate, but until property is sold (and in this climate that could be a while) there won't be a lot of cash around.

How do I settle these bills?
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It's not selfish at all. You could ask the beneficiaries to make a contribution on foot of re-imbursement from the estate.
 
The Undertakers will know what to do. This is a regular occurrence so just contact them directly when the time comes.
 
If there is enough money in a bank account you can present the bills to the bank and they will pay.

If not, you may have to open an 'executors account' which is basically an overdraft at the bank and pay from this. They will probably require a solicitors undertaking to repay from the proceeds of sale. These are getting more and more difficult to get approved with banks who naturally would be concerned at the length of time it will take to sell the assets.

If above two fail, then it is either out of your own pocket or you will have to ask beneficiaries as above.
 
Slim - I found out today (to my shock) that the I'm the primary beneficiary; and I'd hand it all back to have this person around for longer... However, that's out of my control now & I'm doing my best not to think too much about it.

so back to the practical issues:

It's 'ready' cash that would be the problem.

iwantmore, I'm not sure I understand? Are you saying the undertakers would cover all the costs of the funeral until the property is sold?

I can't imagine they cover the funeral meal/priest/parish costs etc.,?

There will be medical things as well I would guess, VHI will cover most but not all.

Phone, ESB all that good stuff will have to be sorted also, though I suppose they can wait.

I've never had to organise this before so I'm not sure how it works.


Edit: thanks vanilla - I posted the above before I saw your reply. What you say makes sense now. Don't know if there will be sufficient in her a/c but we'll have to wait & see.
 
Thankfully, I haven't had to do anything just yet, Slim.

But we've since had a chat & money has been put to one side which should cover most of the costs.
 
Thirsty said:
Thankfully, I haven't had to do anything just yet, Slim.

But we've since had a chat & money has been put to one side which should cover most of the costs.
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Glad to hear that they are still with you and you have made practical arrangements. Hope it goes as well as it can.
 
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