DESIGNATING DIFFERENT PEOPLE FOR DIFFERENT ROLES IN YOUR ESTATE PLAN

As part of your estate plan, your New York City estate planning attorney will draw up a wide range of documents for you. As part of the process, you will need to designate people to act on your behalf. You might need to appoint an executor, a trustee, a general power of attorney, a healthcare prox and more. You do not need to designate the same person to act in every role.

Speak with your attorney about what the people designated for each role actually do so that you can designate the most appropriate person. For example, the executor of your will has a short-term assignment. Once directives in the will are carried out, the executor’s role is over. However, a trustee may need continue administering the trust for years. Thus, you might want to consider a potential trustee’s ability to continue to act well into the future, which might not be as big of a concern for an executor.

Different considerations go into deciding who to appoint to different roles, such as appointing a power of attorney or a healthcare proxy. An estate planning attorney will go over every role with you and has the experience to know what the most important factors are that you should consider. Make sure you ask your attorney about every role.