Quote:
Originally Posted by Slava
You could consider a professional executor. I think more people should because being an executor is not some honor that is bestowed on you; it's a lot of work. If you have complications (or know you will), getting a professional involved is going to cost a few dollars, but it could well be worth eliminating that struggle.
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This helps avoiding certain things from getting personal, but doesn't help with PITA siblings. This still locks the thing up in probate. The best thing to do is to do certain things while the parents are alive so that the PITA sibling cannot contest or lock anything up. I know one executor that rakes in a ridiculous amount of money per year. He says it's not worth it. It's been like a decade since the parents died and he says he still gets calls at 3AM of one sibling complaining about the other and it's still not resolved.
The best thing to do is have a will that basically auto executes unless unanimous decision making is made. Worst case, put in a poison pill.
Something like: "Within 18-36 months, all assets to be sold and converted into cash. After all liabilities and taxes are settled, the remaining amount is to be disbursed to beneficiaries on a specific percentage basis... unless 100% of beneficiaries agree on an alternative."
Poison pill: "If my estate is not settled within 36-48 months, I request that all my assets be sold and the proceeds will be donated to a specific charity/foundation. My beneficiaries may request to receive an appropriate donation receipt for the proceeds donated to the charity/foundation, otherwise, the donation receipt is to be for my estate."
Basically, you need to leave behind a veto (ie: auto executes a specific wish unless there's a unanimous agreement for an alternative) and a time limit (otherwise it could go on forever without auto executing). It also helps if there's incentive for the beneficiaries to cooperate vs accepting the alternative (ie: Poison pill).
I know someone, who is in this scenario. Buddy doesn't care if he doesn't get a penny but knows the sibling might be crazy enough to demand 100% PLUS extra from them personally. There's an endowment clause so the sibling can't pretend that the finances were blurred and go after personal assets that had nothing with the parents. Basically, it's a legal fence that keeps crazy sibling from legally crossing it or claiming that lines were unclear and/or intentionally blurred.
I know someone who took 0% of their inheritance and gave it to sibling. Sibling was still not happy. The individual wrote sibling a cheque for $10K and said, "See, I have nothing left that could have been moms!". Sibling said, "Oh, if you can afford to pay that, you obviously stole even more than the inheritance + $10K." and launched a lawsuit on the other sibling.
Some people are literally crazy and the parents are the only thing keeping them in check. That's why important to having something appropriately representing the parents' wishes/clear instruction of the parents wishes to help clean up those crazy messes/prevent a crazy mess even after the parents are gone.