Dear LPG, 

I want to touch upon a subject that is not the nicest to discuss.  I have seen the occasional reminder about the importance of having a will in place and I have finally got started on mine but one of the first questions you need to answer when making one is who you should choose as an executor.   You can choose a solicitor, but I suspect that like me, most people would rather know that someone who knows me a little better than that might do a more caring job. 

There is another aspect to the thing that has become a reality for me recently too.  With all the will writing that is going on when you and your contemporaries get to a certain age, all your friends are working on them too and it is likely that one or two of them will be looking to you to be the person they can name as one of their executors.

Now that I have got started on mine, I am learning just how hard it is to get someone to agree to being named in your will so when one of my friends asked me, I thought I would look up just what is involved, and this is not an easy job. Executors have a lot of duties to perform, and they can even end up having to pay for any financial mistakes they might make.

I found this information online when I Googled the cost of the process…

“If the Solicitors are acting as professional Executors then the value factor charge will be 0.75% of the value of any residence and 1.5% of the balance of the gross value of the Estate.”

I found myself really having to analyse that statement before I could get my head around it.  I have not learned a lot about doing the job apart from it is no easy task, but we are all going to need to leave someone in charge and the recommendation is that we each choose two.

So, to make sure that there are enough to go around, while we are likely to be asked at some point, I think that it is worth doing a bit of reading up and considering your answer carefully, so that you know what you are getting into if you say ‘yes’.  While, if you are making your will at the moment, reading some of the information below will help you to know just what you are asking your potential executor to do.   

I am still working on mine, and at least I have got started now.

QK, Lewisham. 
   

QK found a little more information on various aspects of the subject…

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