How to handle a belligerent beneficiary

One of the regular readers of this blog (I'm looking at you, webeye) suggested the following article to me. Though the article is Americ...

The Law Show: Practical tips and how-tos for executors and beneficiaries

This week's (August 17, 2017) episode of The Law Show is online! This week we are talking about several practical tips and how-tos that ...

How does the named beneficiary of an RRSP go about collecting it?

In any given estate, there is usually only one lawyer involved, and that lawyer works for the executor. This means that other people such as...

The Law Show episode: Executor's duties is now available online

Yesterday's (May 11, 2017) episode of The Law Show was all about executor's duties. We had fun talking about some of the places exec...

Does an executor have to account for an insolvent estate, and do the beneficiaries have to pay for that?

A reader recently sent me a question which made me think about real life situations in which legal theory meets reality. Though we have all ...

The executor says he had a verbal agreement with the deceased to do as he pleases with the estate

Most people who act as executors do so only once in a lifetime. This means there are an awful lot of rookie executors who don't have tra...

Can the executor withhold his phone number from the beneficiaries?

In this blog, I talk a lot about communication between the executor and the beneficiaries. I'm always urging people to keep the informat...

I undervalued an asset on the estate inventory. Now what?

One of the tasks of an executor or estate administrator is to prepare an inventory of the estate. This is not always cut and dried, especial...

Is it a good idea to act as executor and POA for someone I don't know much about?

It used to be that people felt honoured to be chosen as someone's executor. I have always thought that frame of mind to be a bit naive, ...

Am I entitled to ask the executor for more detailed financials?

Do you ever wonder how a general legal rule or principle actually works in your situation? A reader who obviously knows the general rule tha...

Things don't happen automatically. That's why we have executors.

Today I met with a client who was upset and angry that the stocks and bonds owned by her father had never been transferred into her mother&#...

What if the executor ignored the will for 16 years and now one of the beneficiaries is passing away?

What happens when an executor ignores the will for 16 years, then one of the beneficiaries under the will becomes ill? Does that complicate ...

15 basic (but important) points about executors

Sometimes when I read questions and comments on this blog or speak with people in my office, I realize that there are basic terms used in wi...

Executor who wouldn't give info to beneficiaries to pay own costs of $80,000

The number one complaint I hear about estates is not about the cost or the time it takes. It's about the fact that executors refuse to p...