What’s the toughest part of executing an estate?

There are always challenges when closing someone’s estate. Which are the ones that will affect you most?

It depends a lot on you and what you can handle.

Often the most difficult challenges are emotional, arising from grief (which can still be very raw), a sense of being overwhelmed by the occasion and the responsibility, or dealing with individuals who have a vested interest in the outcome – often family. As Executor, you may have relationships with people who are affected by the outcome, and whom you must deal with long after the estate is closed. That can add a lot of stress to the job.

Other times, it’s the extraordinary complexity of the executor’s role itself. You’re called upon to do many things you may never have done before: Make funeral arrangements, file someone else’s taxes, close bank and investment accounts, send deceased notifications and arrange for disbursements. All the while you may well be hunting for information about accounts and assets that often isn’t easily within reach. It takes a lot of skills and organization – not to mention level-headedness – to successfully complete the job on time.

Speaking of time, there’s that too. You’re going to need to put hundreds of hours into the task. In Canada, an estate execution takes an average of 570 hours to complete. That’s roughly 14 weeks of full-time work. Busy people learn too late how disruptive that time commitment can be, and they struggle with it. By that point, they’re deep in the tunnel and the only way out is to keep going forward.

It’s because of these major challenges to your life and sanity that we decided to form The Executors. We believe you should know what you’re getting into before you begin, and that you should have the option of hiring a professional to do the task for you.

We also believe that you were appointed not to have your life upended, but because you are trusted to make sound decisions – starting with your own capacity to take on the job.