The Executor's Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Settling an Estate for Personal Representatives, Administrators, and Beneficiaries

This book was very helpful and gave me all the information I was looking for.

I got this book because I have been appointed the executor for my father, and I needed to know what was expected of me and what he and I needed to talk about. So this book has been a great help in getting our conversation started. However, this should not be the only source of information. The main thing I learned from this book was that being an executor is more complicated than I thought, and much of the work needs to be done BEFORE the person dies! There are so many conversations about money, belongings, people, wishes and desires that need to be discussed, and this does not even begin to include all the medical questions one might need to cover!!! So, if you are being asked to be an executor prior to the death of a person, GREAT, because you can now use this book - and others - to sit down and make some plans.

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...

This book gives great overview but it is not a do-it-yourself book. You'll still need legal advice. Highly recommend as a read so you can be educated before speaking with a lawyer.

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.