britmama

My husband and I are originally from the UK and have been living in the US for 18 years. We are dual British-American citizens. All our family (except our young children) live in the UK, but all are assets are located in the US.

We are having trouble figuring out whom we should nominate as the executor of our wills. We don't feel comfortable asking any of our acquaintances here in the US to take on such a personal task, but equally we don't know how a family member in the UK could manage the process from there.

Has anyone else been in this situation, and what solution did you come up with?

tom169

May be Overkill for your situation, but my credit union will manage a trust and execute on it upon death. You'd have to move all your assets into it before you die with an attorney. All of this will of course cost $$$.

MidAtlantic

We were in the same position and now have the Trust Department of a local community bank set up as executor. They were recommended to us by our lawyer. We did not have to transfer any of our assets to them.

Floridablues

I'm thinking exactly this question at the moment without any of my family being Stateside. I went along to have a talk with a Will maker a couple of years back and then after the visit remembering reading reviews or something where a relative with similar qualifications had 'dipped' into clients estates. Kind of stopped me moving forward at the time. I'm in the central Florida area so would be interested in suggestions.

HDWill

Find a young lawyer in your area that you like. I'd think most any general practice attorney would be willing to serve as an estate executor.

MidAtlantic

That's what I thought, but when I asked my lawyer he said that he could not do it. It contradicted some ethical standard for lawyers. I'm not sure if that was due to him having drawn up our wills. It may also be a state requirement that does not apply in other states.

HDWill

I have heard before, that a lawyer can't execute a will that he himself has drawn up. I'd try to clarify that and see if another attorney in his firm could do it, or just look for another lawyer.

MidAtlantic

As in #3 above I used a local community bank, on my lawyer's recommendation.

Cook_County

Who is/are your Attorney(s) under both your US durable power and your UK enduring powers? Would you use the same person(s)?

vikingsail

Executors should be trustworthy and durable - think banking institutions (not individuals) that have been around for 100 years or more. Selecting individuals, including lawyers as an Executor, is fraught with potential issues -we never know what is around the next corner.
Advice to the contrary should be treated with much skepticism i.e. if the lawyer executing your will or trust suggests himself, a colleague or even another unconnected lawyer/professional as an executor - run for the door.

branmin

Big worry for my wife and I. No family left in the UK. No family or kids left here to pass it on. Need now to sort our wills out, etc, etc. Something happens to me first, the wife is legally blind and would be in a terrible state of trying to sort paperwork out let alone find where everything is. No true friends I could count on or trust, particularly with becoming an Executor and certainly don't trust Banks or Lawyers. My accountant could help to a certain extent but writing wills, passing it on to who? Worry. Big one. And not going to simply give it to some charity like a dogs home. Not something one discusses on an open forum, but who on earth do you discuss this with as it does appear that this problem is certainly not unique but does have few answers...........

md95065

Like Lehman Brothers or Barings Bank ...

Pulaski

Er, the business units of both those banks actually still exist, merged into other banks. In both cases the banks were split into multiple units and sold to several different new owners, and the business units continued to operate under new owners.

I agree there are examples of banks that have actually been shut down and their business activities ceased, but neither of those banks are examples of a bank that was shut down entirely.

Pulaski

I believe that conventional advice is to name a relative or beneficiary in the will on the understanding that they can/will then delegate responsibilities to a lawyer or bank of their choosing in the event that they are actually put in the situation of needing an executor. I agree that with family in the UK that might be impractical in this case, but I think there is real value in leaving the decision/ discretion to a beneficiary, or even non-beneficiary, who might be willing to take on the task of appointing someone to act as executor when the need arises for one, as they can choose an executor who they are comfortable with and / or provides an efficient, cost effective service at the time - who knows who that might be many years from now?

As MD said above a bank may have discontinued trust activities, or been sold to a new owner with trust operations in another state, so not able to act conveniently and locally, or a lawyer may have moved, or died, or got out of the trust/executor business. The possibilities are almost endless.

scot47

On retirement I came to a part of Scotland where I had no friends or family and where I knew no one. After some reflection I asked one of the senior Freemasons in the area. Anno, I am NOT "on the square" !