MyLastWill Blog

Who should I choose as Executors?

When making a Will one of the most important decisions to make is to name an Executor. An Executor is a person named in the Will who can deal with your Estate after your death. This could be a friend, someone you trust or a member of your family. The Executor’s job is to carry out the work as instructed in your Will in a trustworthy and reliable manner.

In England & Wales there are fairly straight forward requirements for a person to be capable to be an Executor. This must be over 18 years old at the time of your death and must have the mental capacity to do the job.You can name more than one Executor to carry out the responsibilities after your death and if you wish you can choose a substitute Executor in case one Executor is unable to fulfil his/her obligations. However, note that the maximum number of people acting as Executor at one time is four.

It is also important to speak to the person you have in mind and see if he/she can carry out the Executor’s duty as there may be people that will not be comfortable with the technical aspects of the role or the responsibilities involved. An Executors duties can often take several months to discharge, but once the estate has been wound-up and the residuary estate distributed his/her job is complete.