Before You Name an Executor or Agent, Ask Them First
Naming someone to handle your finances, healthcare, or estate is one of the most important decisions in a plan, and one of the most rushed. A few conversations can prevent problems later.
By Estate Checkpoint
Why These Choices Get Rushed
Most estate plans name several people for specific jobs: someone to handle financial matters if you can't, someone to make healthcare decisions on your behalf, an executor or successor trustee to settle things after you're gone, and usually backups for each role. These decisions often get made in a single meeting at the attorney's office. The documents get signed, and that's it. The people who were named may not even know.
The Problem With Not Asking
Signing the paperwork doesn't mean the plan actually works. The person you named may not want the role. They may live far away. They may be dealing with their own health issues. Or they may simply have no idea what the job involves. A backup named years ago may no longer be the right choice, or may have passed away. None of that shows up when the documents are signed. It shows up later, when the role is actually needed.
Five Conversations Worth Having
Before you finalize who will act for you, there are a few conversations worth having directly with the people you're naming.
- Ask first. Before you finalize a role, ask the person directly whether they're willing to serve.
- Explain the job. Acting as an agent, executor, or trustee can take real time and involve paperwork, deadlines, and difficult family moments.
- Share where things are. The person needs to know where to find your documents and who your professionals are.
- Talk about your wishes. Especially for healthcare decisions, the person acting for you should understand what you would want, not just hold the paperwork.
- Name backups, and revisit them. Life changes. Review your choices after a move, a marriage, a divorce, a death, or a falling-out.
Acting as an agent, executor or trustee can take real time and involve paperwork, deadlines and difficult family moments.
Revisiting Your Choices Over Time
An estate plan is not something you set once and forget. The person who made sense as an executor or healthcare agent at the time you signed your documents may not be the right person now. A move, a marriage, a divorce, a death, or a falling-out are all reasons to go back and look at who you named and whether that still holds up.
Your estate attorney is the right person to advise on which documents you need and how each role works where you live. The part worth doing on your own, before or after that meeting, is the conversation: making sure the people you've named actually know they've been chosen, understand what the role involves, and have agreed to take it on.
This article is for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, legal, or investment advice. It is not a recommendation to buy or sell any product. Examples are hypothetical illustrations, not predictions of any individual result.