{"id":548313,"date":"2026-03-18T12:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/548313\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T12:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:22:09","slug":"what-this-85-year-old-seven-time-executor-can-teach-you-about-carrying-out-wills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/548313\/","title":{"rendered":"What this 85-year-old, seven-time executor can teach you about carrying out wills"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo illustration by The Globe and Mail\/Sources: Getty Images<\/p>\n

The beneficiary: \u201cPaul\u201d is an 85-year-old remarried widower in Northern Ontario with kids and grandkids. Honest, trustworthy and financially-savvy, the long-retired accountant has had the unique pleasure (uh, most of the time) of being an executor not once, not twice, but seven times. Naturally, he has some wisdom to share.<\/p>\n

The inheritance: Though Paul indeed received his half of his parents\u2019 estate (two of his executor adventures), this \u201cinheritance\u201d is the grand total of cumulative executive fees. In Ontario, typically between 3 and 5 per cent of the estate value is considered \u201cfair and reasonable compensation.\u201d From this unique side-gig, Paul has earned about $150,000 altogether. <\/p>\n

\u201cI kept time records just for my own edification,\u201d says Paul, who put in about 200 hours into each estate, as smaller ones take just as much time as the larger ones do. He\u2019s never actually crunched the numbers, but it works out to be a bit more than $100 an hour (or about a third of an average accountant\u2019s hourly rate). \u201cYou don\u2019t take on being an executor for the money,\u201d says Paul. \u201cThere shouldn\u2019t be any great financial incentive to be an executor, as that would create all new problems.\u201d <\/p>\n

How this \u2018bossy\u2019 sister is making sure the kids get their piece of her father\u2019s estate<\/a><\/p>\n

What he did: So why did Paul take on executorship? \u201cThe first one was an old friend and long-time client of mine who asked me to take it on because neither of his children wanted to and I knew all his financial information,\u201d says Paul. \u201cI considered it an honour and the will was pretty straightforward \u2013 all his money went to his spouse.\u201d Because the process was relatively easy, Paul became her executor next.<\/p>\n

The surviving spouse lived for more than a decade, during which time their children passed away, leaving fewer people to help and a lot more on Paul\u2019s plate than he imagined. \u201cIf there are no living relatives willing to do it, the funeral arrangements fall to the executor,\u201d he says. Ideally, as it was in this case, specifics about the funeral and reception will be in the will.<\/p>\n

But wills are often outdated, vague or incomplete. Theoretically, all the assets of the deceased should be listed; practically, executors have to be \u201ca bit of a detective to find all the assets,\u201d he says. During another executorship, this time of a more substantial estate (with a business involved), Paul tracked down various pension plans, registered retirement income funds and registered retirement savings plans at different banks, and even gold coins locked in a safety deposit box.<\/p>\n

Notifying family and friends involves more admin work than detective work. Paul has to notify family and friends first, but also doctors, employers, lawyers, landlords, bankers, accountants and service providers. Government agencies must also be informed, such as Service Canada, the Canada Revenue Agency, Canada Pension Plan and Canada Post. Valid health cards and passports should be returned and driver\u2019s licences need to be cancelled. A final tax return also needs to be filed. \u201cAll of this takes time,\u201d says Paul, \u201cand some estates take far longer than others. Most people are shocked at how long the process takes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her father\u2019s fortune went to another family. She got a cat \u2013 but it changed her life<\/a><\/p>\n

What he learned: While Paul made his way through the executor to-do list, beneficiaries were inevitably circling round. \u201cAs soon as someone dies, people can see money out there and they\u2019re ready. Well, they might be ready, but nobody gets paid until the executor is ready,\u201d says Paul. His most straightforward executorship took a year-and-a half, while his longest one has been three years and counting. <\/p>\n

Impatient inheritors sometimes blame or bully the executor, admits Paul, but he doesn\u2019t let it bother him. \u201cI\u2019m prepared to stand up to them to do the right thing, even when there\u2019s pushback, because that\u2019s the job,\u201d he says. If he foresees a sticky situation, Paul won\u2019t take it on to begin with or he will turn it down when the time comes. An executor is a volunteer who isn\u2019t legally obligated and has the right to refuse. \u201cYou need to ask yourself if you want to do it and if you\u2019re capable of doing it,\u201d cautions Paul. Some factors to consider are time, geography, health issues, family conflict and grief \u2013 but just not wanting to is sufficient. You don\u2019t need to provide a reason or explanation.<\/p>\n

For better or worse, says Paul, \u201cyou always have to go by the provisions of the will.\u201d That might seem obvious, but it\u2019s not an easy task when a will clearly favours some people over others. \u201cI\u2019ve seen situations where one of the children benefited far more than another one, but it\u2019s not for me to decide. As an executor, I don\u2019t get to make value judgments.\u201d Similarly, beneficiaries can\u2019t shoot the messenger.<\/p>\n

Some details may be changed to protect the privacy of the person profiled. Have you recently received an inheritance and would like to participate in Inherited? Send us an e-mail<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Photo illustration by The Globe and Mail\/Sources: Getty Images The beneficiary: \u201cPaul\u201d is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,184,185,4825],"class_list":["post-548313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-r-fp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}