Most Important Job of an Executor

The most important job of an executor is to find all of the relevant documents of the deceased which can be very difficult depending on the size of the estate. To help your future executor and heirs, you may want to consider writing a letter now detailing your post death instructions, and describing the location of all of your important papers. The records your executor should find as quickly as possible after death include the following: cash on hand, bank account statements, auto titles, brokerage statements, retirement plan statements, insurance policies, list of user Id's and passwords for access to your financial accounts, safe deposit box inventory of items, prior gift tax returns, last three years of Federal and state income tax returns, latest credit card statements, any jewelry or art appraisals, mortgages and deeds to real property, stock or bond certificates registered to deceased, and any current shareholder, operating, or partnership agreements. I also recommend that all stock and bonds be held in street name instead of personally which means that a stock broker will keep up with the securities.