When someone
creates a will or a trust of course they want to choose a dependable and
trustworthy person as executor or trustee. For most people this means someone
close to them—a family member or friend, or often the most responsible of their
adult children. However, this often means that the person they’ve chosen as
executor or trustee is also a beneficiary. The question that occurs is this: Is it a conflict of interest to be both executor/trustee
and beneficiary?
As executor
or trustee a person has a legal duty to manage the property in the decedent’s
estate for the benefit of the trust or estate beneficiaries. This means that
while the executor/trustee should be compassionate, he or she must act in an
equal and unemotional manner toward ALL the beneficiaries.
A
beneficiary, on the other hand, is often by definition emotional. Even those
beneficiaries who are not concerned with the monetary aspect of their
inheritance (and let’s be honest, many heirs are more concerned with the dollar
amount than they might let on) will likely be emotionally invested in the heirlooms
of the estate. Many family feuds are sparked when siblings can’t agree on who gets
the family silver or great grandma’s engagement ring. And the potential for
conflict only increases when real estate is involved.
If you are
creating your will or trust, the best way to avoid this conflict is to be as
specific as possible in your instructions to your executor and beneficiaries. Spelling
out in no uncertain terms who gets the family silver will decrease the chances that
the executor will be tempted to take advantage of his or her position. You may
also want to consider naming a disinterested party as a trust advisor or
co-executor to provide checks and balances throughout the administration
process.
If you are a
beneficiary who is also serving as executor/trustee there are a few things you
can do to ensure you keep your executor and beneficiary roles separate:
* You may
want to consider contacting a probate or estate planning attorney to mediate or
oversee the process.
* Rely on
random but fair methods (such as flipping a coin, drawing straws, or organizing
a round robin) to distribute unassigned personal property with emotional value.
* Be sure to
involve an impartial appraiser if real property is involved.
* If all
else fails, an executor or trustee is always permitted to step down and hand
the role over to a qualified and disinterested party.