What does an executor actually have to do?

People agree to be executors as a favour, often decades before it becomes real, and rarely with a clear picture of the obligations. It is not an honorary role: an executor holds the estate as a fiduciary and is answerable to the beneficiaries and to HMRC. For most estates it is manageable; for some it is a job that should be handed to a professional.

Step by step

1. Find the will and check you are actually appointed.A later will or a codicil may have replaced you. Check whether there are co-executors and whether any have died, and whether a professional executor was appointed alongside you.
2. Decide whether to act, before doing anything.You can renounce, which permanently gives up the role, or have power reserved so another executor acts and you can step in later. But once you have intermeddled — started collecting assets or dealing with the estate — you have accepted the role and can only be released by a court.
3. Secure the assets straight away.Notify insurers about an empty property, since most policies restrict cover after a period of vacancy. Secure valuables, redirect post, and stop regular payments once you have authority.
4. Establish what the estate consists of.Assets and liabilities, valued at the date of death. See the guide on applying for probate for how to go about it.
5. Deal with the tax — all of it.Inheritance tax where it applies, plus the deceased's income tax to the date of death, plus income tax on estate income during administration. The last of these is regularly missed.
6. Pay debts in the right order.There is a statutory order of priority for paying an insolvent estate. Paying a beneficiary or a lower-priority creditor first, where the estate cannot meet everything, makes you personally liable for the shortfall.
7. Keep estate accounts and keep beneficiaries informed.A record of everything in and out, with receipts. Beneficiaries are entitled to see the accounts, and a residuary beneficiary can require them. Most executor disputes are really communication disputes.
8. Take the protections available to you.Statutory advertisements for creditors, a search of the unclaimed assets registers, and holding a reserve past the six-month claim period after the grant. Each of these reduces personal exposure at modest cost.
9. Take advice where the estate is difficult.A disputed will, a missing beneficiary, an insolvent estate, a business, a trust, foreign assets, or a beneficiary who lacks capacity. Professional fees paid from the estate are usually recoverable as an administration expense.
10. Distribute against receipts and close it properly.Signed receipts from beneficiaries, final accounts approved, and the file kept for years afterwards. Executor decisions get questioned long after the money has gone.

Common mistakes

• Starting work and then trying to step down — Once you have intermeddled you have accepted the appointment. Renouncing has to happen before you deal with the estate.
• Distributing early to keep the family happy — It is the single most common source of personal liability. Debts, tax and claims can all surface after distribution, and the executor makes up the difference.
• Not keeping accounts — Beneficiaries can require them, and without contemporaneous records an executor is defending decisions from memory years later.

Questions people ask