Glossary · UK
What is Executor of a Will?
The person or people named in a will who are legally responsible for administering the deceased's estate -- collecting assets, paying debts and tax, and distributing what remains to the beneficiaries.
Full Definition
An executor is the person, or one of several people, named in a valid will and given legal responsibility for administering the deceased's estate after their death, a role that carries significant legal duties and personal liability if carried out negligently or dishonestly. The executor's core responsibilities typically include registering the death, valuing the estate's assets and liabilities (establishing the probate value of each asset), applying to the Probate Registry for a grant of probate if one is needed, paying off any outstanding debts and settling any Inheritance Tax due to HMRC (which in many cases must be paid, or arrangements made to pay it, before the grant of probate is even issued), and finally distributing the remaining estate to the beneficiaries named in the will, in accordance with its terms. An executor can be a family member, friend, professional (such as a solicitor or accountant), or a combination, and is not required to have any specialist legal knowledge, though many choose to instruct a solicitor to help with some or all of the administration, particularly for larger or more complex estates, with the reasonable cost of doing so normally paid from the estate itself rather than by the executor personally. Where someone dies without a valid will (intestate), the broadly equivalent role -- with authority coming from a grant of letters of administration rather than a grant of probate -- is instead called an administrator, and is filled according to the priority order set out in the intestacy rules rather than by the deceased's own choice.