Estate administration
When a loved one dies, it’s not always easy being the one responsible for carrying out their wishes. When trying to deal with your own grief and emotions, it can be a difficult and time consuming task, especially if there is a complex family or financial situation involved.
Perpetual Private Clients can relieve the burden of you or your relatives dealing with these situations by acting as executor of a will or your future will, and managing all aspects of administering a deceased estate. We also assist accountants and solicitors to administer their clients’ estates.
Our estate administration service options
What does estate administration involve and what is an executor responsible for?
Our estate administration service options
We offer flexible options to ease the burden of estate administration for individuals and professionals such as solicitors and accountants.
1. Appoint Perpetual as future executor of your estate
You can name us as executor in your will. We will ensure your estate is transferred according to your wishes and manage all the legal, tax and administrative tasks.
2. Appoint Perpetual to help you administer someone’s estate
We can help you fulfil your executorial duties, provide advice as needed and carry out tasks such as preparation of accounts and lodgement of legal documents.
3. Transfer your executorial responsibilities to Perpetual
If you are named as executor and are unable to accept the obligations, we can take on the role of executor of the estate. We will keep you informed of the progress of the administration without you having to accept the personal obligations and liabilities as executor.
What does estate administration involve and what is an executor responsible for?
If you are named as an executor in someone’s will, it’s your responsibility to ensure that the deceased’s wishes are carried out and their assets are distributed according to their will. This process is known as estate administration.What you need to do as an executor
As an executor, you are responsible for a number of tasks. You may need to:
- Organise the funeral
- Locate and execute the will
- Communicate with the beneficiaries, who may be distressed or feuding
- Find the deceased’s assets, which may be in multiple states or countries
- Prepare legal documents about the estate’s assets to lodge with courts
- Apply for probate (permission to distribute the assets)
- Keep the assets safe, eg through insurance
- Sell assets if required, eg property, shares
- Distribute the assets to beneficiaries
- Complete tax returns
- Defend the will in court if it is disputed.
Depending on the complexity, it may take several years to complete the estate’s administration.
For more information
To find out how we can help you with your own estate planning or executorial responsibilities, phone us on
1800 631 381 or make an appointment with one of our advisers.
