By Duane Egyud, Realtor with the Queens Home Team at Keller Williams Realty Landmark II.
Back in the day, after one had deceased and had a Will, there would be a Reading of the Will. This was done mostly because, back then, some people couldn’t read and it was at the reading they would learn what was to be done. Today we do not have that same problem on the same scale and formal readings of the will are no longer required. What happens now is that everyone who is in the Will receives a copy of it. There can be quite a bit of legal jargon in the Will and the executor would be wise to ask a professional attorney for some clarification. There may be Specific Gifts, Conditional Gifts, Custodianships, an Executor’s Bond, special attachments that may be in your handwriting, or signed by you that may need to be included in the Will and the list continues. The Personal Representative (PR) is responsible for overseeing all of it.
The Executor’s, aka PR’s duties are vast and I am going to attempt to explain them over the course of a few blogs. The first thing the PR will do is read your will and expedite your instructions for your burial, or whatever it is you decide you would like to do. The PR will then meet with your family (if any) and other interested parties who are looking for aid and information about the Will. The PR will confer with your attorney who drew the Will and persons familiar with your financial affairs.
One of the first things the PR will do is work to safeguard your assets. On occasion a bond is required to be taken out by the PR to protect your assets and to insure the PR performs their duties in a timely manner. Some of the responsibilities at this time would be looking into the insurance and the protection of both your real and personal property, secure knowledge of your ongoing business interests, examine all your books and files and giving notice of your death to your banks and financial holding companies. This pretty much will put a hold on your accounts so no one can go into them and make changes while the probate process begins. In the next blog I will go into the Petitioning the Court to begin the Probate process. Again, if you have any questions, about real estate, or if you or someone you know would like to buy, sell, or invest in real estate, please reach out duane@queenshometeam.com because when dealing with real estate in Queens, always go with the home team.