VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Should you waive the bond for the executor you name in your will? What does that even mean? And does it even matter? I’m estate planning and probate attorney, Sarah Siedentopf. If you have questions about your specific situation, please do give me a call. In general, the bond for an executor or administrator is basically an insurance policy that says, If they do the wrong thing, this policy will pay out to cover it. So specifically let’s say I was in a circumstance where there were two brothers that didn’t get along very well. And one of them was the executor and took more money than he was supposed to. And y’all, I really, wish there had been a bond for us to collect on. On the other hand, if say your spouse is your executor, you might not want to make them pay for insurance when you’re giving them the whole estate. And so the bond is issued by a company and the price differs depending on the value of the estate and the creditworthiness of the person. So it’s one more hoop for an executor or administrator to jump through. With probate, nobody wants more hoops to jump through. The reason that it is a possibility and a legal requirement unless you waive it, is that it does give a measure of safety in case anything goes wrong. So there are a lot of times in trusted family situations, especially when you’re naming a spouse or maybe you have one child and the person who’s being executor is inheriting everything, that you’re really gonna want to waive this bond. But there are other times when that’s not the best choice and you wanna think through that. But a bond is basically paying for an insurance policy, but it costs money and the person has to be creditworthy. So if you’ve got questions about this, please give me a call. And also I welcome your comments. Thank you.Schedule a Strategy Session
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