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Opening an Estate Bank Account: A Guide for NZ Executors
Read guide: Opening an Estate Bank Account: A Guide for NZ ExecutorsThe executor had finally received probate. For weeks, estate money had been scattered across restricted bank accounts, an investment provider, a property manager and several…
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Balancing the Estate Books
Read guide: Balancing the Estate BooksThe executor thought the estate accounts would be simple. There had been a house, two bank accounts and three beneficiaries. The house sold for more…
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Keeping Difficult Beneficiaries From Derailing an Estate
Read guide: Keeping Difficult Beneficiaries From Derailing an EstateThe executor’s phone rang at 7.12 on a Sunday morning. A beneficiary wanted to know why the house had not sold. By lunchtime, another had…
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The Executor’s Roadmap From Will to Final Payment
Read guide: The Executor’s Roadmap From Will to Final PaymentThe envelope looked ordinary. Inside was a signed will naming Daniel as executor of his aunt’s estate. He had agreed to take the role years…
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The Executor’s First Seven Days
Read guide: The Executor’s First Seven DaysThe first call may come before sunrise. A parent, sibling or close friend has died, and somewhere in the first few stunned conversations, someone says,…
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The Search for a Missing Will
Read guide: The Search for a Missing WillThe family had searched every drawer in the house. They found insurance papers, old bank statements, passports that had expired years earlier and a folder…
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Lock, List and Protect: Securing an Estate’s Property
Read guide: Lock, List and Protect: Securing an Estate’s PropertyThe front door was unlocked when the executor arrived. Inside, several relatives were sorting through drawers. One had placed a box of photographs in the…
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Probate Granted: The Real Work Begins
Read guide: Probate Granted: The Real Work BeginsThe executor opened the envelope and read the first line twice. Probate had been granted. After weeks of locating documents, checking names, swearing an affidavit…
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When the Named Executor Cannot Take Charge
Read guide: When the Named Executor Cannot Take ChargeThe will named one executor: the deceased’s older brother. There was only one problem. He had died three years earlier. The family still had a…
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