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Should your chosen executor’s financial issues worry you?

On Behalf of | Jun 5, 2022 | Estate Planning & Probate

You’ve always been pragmatic, so you got your estate plan together fairly early. You considered all your options, divided your assets as you thought best, picked the best possible people to hold your powers of attorney and selected your executor with care.

Unfortunately, the person you’ve chosen as your executor is experiencing some personal issues that have affected their financial stability. While you still trust them to do right by your estate, you may have no real option but to revise your will and name someone new to the position.

Why do your executor’s financial problems matter?

In Minnesota (as in many other states), executors are required to be bonded. These Probate Bonds are required by the court to act as a form of insurance that will protect your heirs in case your executor makes a mistake or misappropriates some of the funds. Generally, the more complex and valuable your estate is, the higher the required bond.

If your chosen executor is having serious financial problems – especially if they’re delinquent on a lot of bills, have had to let a few credit cards go, defaulted on their mortgage or are heading toward bankruptcy — they may simply be too much of a risk for a bond company to take on. That would mean the court would need to step in and appoint an administrator in your executor’s place – and that could mean your wishes don’t get followed as closely as you’d like.

Making changes to your existing estate plan isn’t difficult, but you should also take this opportunity to review your plan documents in their entirety to make sure they still are still current.