The Executor's Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Settling an Estate for Personal Representatives, Administrators, and Beneficiaries
The Executor's Handbook is a step-by-step guide for estate executors and personal representatives. Covering everything from probate to wills to liquid assets, it helps readers determine the best course of action as an executor. Updates to this edition include:
New information on wills
New types of bank accounts, such as pay-on death accounts
The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997
The increasingly common use of trusts
All state and federal laws, in texts and tables.
The Executor's Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Settling an Estate for Personal Representatives, Administrators, and Beneficiaries Accessories
 Executor's Guide: Settling a Loved One's Estate or Trust
How to Settle an Estate
How to Administer an Estate
Get It Together: Organize Your Records So Your Family Won't Have To (book with CD-Rom)
The Complete Probate Kit
The Executor's Guide: How to Administer an Estate Under a Will
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wills and Estates, Third Edition
Your Executor Duties: The information you need to effectively carry out the powers and duties of an executor for distributing an estate (Tax Guide 304; ... Estates) (Series 300: Retirees and Estates)
The Executor's Handbook
The Settlement Game: How to Settle an Estate Peacefully and Fairly
The Executor's Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Settling an Estate for Personal Representatives, Administrators, and Beneficiaries Reviews
I'm glad I ordered this book. When my family gathered a few months ago for my father's 75th birthday party, during one of several conversations we had, he out of the blue advised me that he'd named me to be Executor of his estate possibly because I'm first-born, but more likely because I'm the only sibling who is speaking to everyone else. It made the role of an Executor very easy to understand, and the few dollars I paid for this book will save me hundreds or thousands of extra dollars that I'd be paying an attoney (out of my father's estate) to do, when now I know how to do some things and how to proceed. This is no "Probate for Dummies" type of book.
As a social worker not a lawyer. I agree that I'm probably the best choice but his announcement scared the heck out of me. It's a valuable, intelligent, well-organized and resourceful book, and I'm hanging on to it to help guide me through the time when I get that late-night phone call I dread so much. I had no idea what an Executor did.
the book's intelligent explanations helped educate me, while not "talking down" to me in simplistic terms.
This book will give you insights into what to expect when "the event" occurs. An executor is not just another job. It should be read before you except the responsibility.
You'll still need legal advice. This book gives great overview but it is not a do-it-yourself book. Highly recommend as a read so you can be educated before speaking with a lawyer.
I found the book to be deficient in covering (failed to cover) the various tax forms (federal estate & income; state estate & income) that must be filed. Did you expect the attorney to tell you about your duties and delegate as much of the work to you as possible. There was an index of terms in the back of the book. It is written so it is applicable to executors in all 50 states. I thought this book was great, and that it will help an executor gain a grasp of his or her responsibilities when administering and closing a decedent's estate.
Don't worry that the book doesn't have your state in its title. However, I would have liked the book better if there had been a glossary of terms back there, too. After reading this book you can probably be an executor for an estate without hiring an attorney (assuming no legal documents have to be prepared or filed in court). Have you ever had to administer an estate and gone to an attorney for help. I found this book in the reference section of the Westfield Pubic Library (NJ) along with its companion book: A Family Guide to Wills, Funerals & Probate (ISBN: 081604550X). Well, if so, then this book probably could have helped you talk to the attorney and have more worked delegated to you. Keep in mind that many estates can be settled without any legal help being needed. When those duties can be complicated, the authors explain the basics so an attorney can be consulted to provide legal services.
It is written without legal jargon. Most of the other things just take time. They mention them, but I would have liked the book better if more had been written about them.
Filing the tax returns is often the most complicated aspect of doing executor work. The edition of the book I read was hardbound and very pretty.
Thus, I recommend an executor read this book before ever seeking an attorney for help, guidance, or services. And did you find the attorney did a lot of work you think you could and should have done. This book was written for an executor to read, and the companion book concerned much of the same material but for the decedent to read before he or she dies.
This book is as comprehensive as it needs to be to educate an executor about his or her duties.
Luckily I was just finishing this book so I had a clue what to do next.The book has already proven to be a valuable resource of information. I purchased this book months ago to prepare myself for the future when I will have to handle my mother's affairs. A website address would be most helpful. For instance, I need to do a Postal change of address. I put Post-It note flags on the tops of certain chapters to speed up the information retrieval.
Yeap, he died intestate, without a will. To my absolute surprise, I have recently been appointed as administrator of my long lost cousin's estate. The Table of Contents is well organized.The only thing I would suggest to the authors is to put a bit more "how to" instructions into the book. The topic is well covered in the chapter "The Deceased's Mail" but it does not tell you how to locate the Post Office where he once lived. As I go through the probate process, I am referring to it to help me along.
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