"Would I Be An Executor?"

Nick Parmee's Times Online humorous article last week made me smile. He answered his own question "Yes, but it can be quite a burden."

An old friend (referred to as "Fred") had invited him to act as his executor and, flattered by the implied compliment to his "personal integrity and organisational powers", he accepted.

The will was up-to-date so no problem he thought - probate simply a couple of agreeable lunches spent reminiscing, signing a few papers provided by "old-fashioned lawyers with dandruffy cardigans"!!!

In his terms "nonchalance turned out to be far from reality"!!

Problem No 1- organising the funeral - it took nearly 2 weeks - no one knew what Fred wanted - cremation/burial, wake/no wake etc etc.

Problem No 2 - Fred's current account (from which household accounts were paid) was frozen and his widow had no account of her own.

Problem No 3 - myriad of finance houses all issuing letters from "Deep Sympathy" computer refusing to communicate without death certificates and he'd only bought one!

Problem No 4 - he needed a lawyer/accountant/estate agent/personal effects valuer and wished they'd all been lined up by Fred in advance rather than it being left to him to choose "with less time to assess the choies than you'd spend in the supermarket wine section on Friday evening."

Problem No 5 - tracking down ALL insurance companies, building societies, credit card companies, shop accounts etc etc...

Nick then refered to Fred using the website Lasting Post The service aimed at helping you plan for your own demise - Have a look at it!

Not too happy about his view of probate lawyers as being old fashioned "with dandruffy cardigans" - in my experience in 2010 they are mainly young, female, pretty, "sassy" (me excluded)!! Check out our website - and our people