When acting as an executor to an estate, here are a few things to keep in mind.
It’s Not About You
It is meet for all those who ride the back of the tiger to consider those who ended up inside. In other words, those who are placed in positions of power are wise to recall the downfall of some who preceded them.
Believing in the divine right of kings, King Charles I had trouble with the notion of being accountable to the representatives of the people whose public estate he was charged with stewarding as their shepherd and King. While Parliament demanded more authority over taxation, military control and religious reform, the King repeatedly dissolved Parliament when it opposed him, including in 1629, which began his 11-year Personal Rule without Parliament. Tensions between the King and the people’s representatives reached their zenith on January 4, 1642, when the King stormed Parliament with armed guards to arrest five leading M.P.’s, John Pym, John Hampden, Denzil Holles, Arthur Haselrig and William Strode, whom the King accused of treason. Seven years later, King Charles I was executed.
It has been said that power corrupts, and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Executors are granted great powers over the estates they manage. And while power is necessary to efficiently execute responsibilities, executors can easily be tempted to be unaccountable to their beneficiaries. The antidote to executor arrogance is to remember that it’s not about you. Remember, beneficiaries have remedies available in the courts.
It’s About Your Beneficiaries
In particular, it’s about your beneficiaries’ best interests. Executors need to be responsive to their beneficiaries. In the world of estates, no news is bad news, because a lack of updates from the executor can create, rightly or wrongly, the impression that the executor isn’t doing their job. And in people’s just-in-time lives with the high cost of living, and household budgets often balancing on a high wire, beneficiaries are counting on their inheritances more than executors might appreciate.
An Executor Who Follows His Own Counsel Has a Fool for a Client
Like Kings and Queens, executors should surround themselves with a court of trusted advisors. Doing everything yourself, and relying on your own counsel exclusively, is a recipe for alienation and error. An executor’s advisors should include at the very least:
- Estate Accountant (think, Minister of Finance)
- Estate Solicitor (think, Attorney General and Minister of Justice)
- Financial Planner (think, Treasury Board President)
Are you looking for assistance from an Estate Administration or Wills and Estates Lawyer in Ontario?
If you have questions about Estate Planning or need assistance with an Estate Administration matter, please feel free to reach out to Mann Lawyers in Ottawa or Perth.
This blog post was written by Dylan McGuinty, Jr., a member of the Estate Administration and Wills and Estates teams. He can be reached at 613-369-0379 or at dylan.mcguinty@mannlawyers.com.
