The Executor's Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Settling an Estate for Personal Representatives, Administrators, and Beneficiaries (Facts on File Personal Law Library) [Hardcover]

Theodore E. Hughes (Author), David Klein (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0816044260 | ISBN-13: 978-0816044269 | Publication Date: July 2001 | Edition: 2

The Executor's Handbook is a step-by-step guide for estate executors and personal representatives. Covering everything from probate to wills to liquid assets, it helps readers determine the best course of action as an executor.

Updates to this edition include:
New information on wills
New types of bank accounts, such as pay-on death accounts
The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997
The increasingly common use of trusts
All state and federal laws, in texts and tables.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Michigan Assistant Attorney General Hughes and Klein (emeritus, social sciences, Michigan State Univ.) provide nonprofessional estate representatives with an understanding of the duties and procedures for settling an estate. They describe how to read and understand a will, locate and manage the assets of the estate, and cope with the probate process. One chapter discusses working with the testator before his or her death to create a letter of instruction to help settle the estate. In this new edition, the authors provide coverage of how to settle trusts and use pay-on-death bank accounts to help keep money out of probate. Numerous charts and tables show tax rates and exemptions, but dates on some of the tables go back to 1997 and 1998 and will need to be updated by using sources that reflect recent legislative changes. Libraries should also consider Charles K. Plotnick's How To Settle an Estate: A Manual for Executors and Trustees (LJ 6/1/98), F. William Hauer Jr.'s Where There's a Will: A Guide for the Executor or Administrator of an Estate (Edgewood, 1998), and James John Jurinski's Probate and Settling an Estate (Barron's, 1997). Joan Pedzich, Harris Beach, Rochester, New York
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 244 pages
• Publisher: Facts on File; 2 edition (July 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816044260
• ISBN-13: 978-0816044269
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #232,555 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short, sweet, and to the point, May 2, 2006

By 

Jeff Lippincott "JLIPPIN" (Princeton, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Executor's Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Settling an Estate for Personal Representatives, Administrators, and Beneficiaries (Facts on File Personal Law Library) (Hardcover)

After reading this book you can probably be an executor for an estate without hiring an attorney (assuming no legal documents have to be prepared or filed in court). I found this book in the reference section of the Westfield Pubic Library (NJ) along with its companion book: A Family Guide to Wills, Funerals & Probate (ISBN: 081604550X). This book was written for an executor to read, and the companion book concerned much of the same material but for the decedent to read before he or she dies.

I thought this book was great, and that it will help an executor gain a grasp of his or her responsibilities when administering and closing a decedent's estate. It is written without legal jargon. Have you ever had to administer an estate and gone to an attorney for help? Did you expect the attorney to tell you about your duties and delegate as much of the work to you as possible? And did you find the attorney did a lot of work you think you could and should have done? Well, if so, then this book probably could have helped you talk to the attorney and have more worked delegated to you.

This book is as comprehensive as it needs to be to educate an executor about his or her duties. When those duties can be complicated, the authors explain the basics so an attorney can be consulted to provide legal services. Keep in mind that many estates can be settled without any legal help being needed. Thus, I recommend an executor read this book before ever seeking an attorney for help, guidance, or services.

The edition of the book I read was hardbound and very pretty. There was an index of terms in the back of the book. However, I would have liked the book better if there had been a glossary of terms back there, too. Don't worry that the book doesn't have your state in its title. It is written so it is applicable to executors in all 50 states.

I found the book to be deficient in covering (failed to cover) the various tax forms (federal estate & income; state estate & income) that must be filed. They mention them, but I would have liked the book better if more had been written about them. Filing the tax returns is often the most complicated aspect of doing executor work. Most of the other things just take time.

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Have Book For The Newly Appointed Executor, June 9, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Executor's Handbook, Second Edition (Paperback)

I purchased this book months ago to prepare myself for the future when I will have to handle my mother's affairs. To my absolute surprise, I have recently been appointed as administrator of my long lost cousin's estate. Yeap, he died intestate, without a will. Luckily I was just finishing this book so I had a clue what to do next.

The book has already proven to be a valuable resource of information. As I go through the probate process, I am referring to it to help me along. I put Post-It note flags on the tops of certain chapters to speed up the information retrieval. The Table of Contents is well organized.

The only thing I would suggest to the authors is to put a bit more "how to" instructions into the book. For instance, I need to do a Postal change of address. The topic is well covered in the chapter "The Deceased's Mail" but it does not tell you how to locate the Post Office where he once lived. A website address would be most helpful.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent overview of the role of an executor! Highly recommended., August 30, 2008

By 

J. Polsgrove "Southwestdeadhead" (Baja Arizona) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Executor's Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Settling an Estate for Personal Representatives, Administrators, and Beneficiaries (Facts on File Personal Law Library) (Hardcover)

When my family gathered a few months ago for my father's 75th birthday party, during one of several conversations we had, he out of the blue advised me that he'd named me to be Executor of his estate -- possibly because I'm first-born, but more likely because I'm the only sibling who is speaking to everyone else. I agree that I'm probably the best choice -- but his announcement scared the heck out of me. I had no idea what an Executor did.

I'm glad I ordered this book! It made the role of an Executor very easy to understand, and the few dollars I paid for this book will save me hundreds or thousands of extra dollars that I'd be paying an attoney (out of my father's estate) to do, when now I know how to do some things and how to proceed.

As a social worker -- not a lawyer! -- the book's intelligent explanations helped educate me, while not "talking down" to me in simplistic terms. This is no "Probate for Dummies" type of book. It's a valuable, intelligent, well-organized and resourceful book, and I'm hanging on to it to help guide me through the time when I get that late-night phone call I dread so much...