Idaho Law Blog
In the course of being an estate planning attorney for nearly two decades I can tell you that I often have clients who want to have more than one of their children named as a co-personal representative. Whenever this happens I have a lengthy discussion with my clients about the reasons this is a bad idea. Here the purpose of this post is to provide a description of the main reasons I give to my clients for why having co-personal representative is a bad idea.
UNNECESSARY DISAGREEMENTS
Anytime you have more than one person who is working on something you will likely have disagreements on how things should be done. When it comes to administering the estate of a person who has passed, disagreements can often be expensive and time-consuming.
Basic logic will tell you that when there are an even number of co-personal representatives, they may not agree on what needs to be accomplished to properly administer the estate. When this occurs nothing can be done unless and until a court becomes involved and intervenes because co-personal representatives have equal power to administer the estate. The court will then have to listen to the arguments being made by both co-personal representative to determine which actions should be taken.
When this process must be followed every time there is a disagreement between what needs to be accomplished far too much time is wasted. Additionally the assets of the estate will be depleted paying for the attorneys end legal processes.
UNNECESSARY COMPLEXITY
The reality is that most states are very simple. Even when there is a large amount of money involved the administration of the estate can be quite simple.However, WinCo personal representatives are named it adds an unnecessary level of complexity to the administration of the estate. The reason behind this is that it will require an agreement between the co-personal representatives on every action that must be taken, distribution that must be made, and expense that must be paid.
When an estate is unusually large, or complex because it involves various types of property or business, this may be a time when having co-personal representatives may work. In this instance, each of the co-personal representatives can be assigned a specific area of the estate to administer. However, and less this level of complexity exist a person will be making their simple estate unnecessarily complex by having co-personal representatives serving.
RECOMMENDATION
The best recommendation that can be made for a simple estate is to have succession planning in place for the naming of personal representatives. What I mean by this is that you name a primary personal representative and if that person is unwilling or unable to serve then you name a successor. The successor would have the same power and can step into the shoes of the first personal representative. By doing this you eliminate any complexity that exists in a simple estate, and you assure that you will in fact have a personal representative of your choosing administering your estate.
If you have questions about who and how to name a personal representative for your estate, we can help. Call us toll free at 877-232-6101 or 208-232-6101 for a consultation with Lane Erickson and the Racine Olson team of Estate Planning attorneys in Idaho. You can also email Lane Erickson directly at lve@racinelaw.net. We will answer your Idaho Estate Planning questions and will help you solve your Idaho Estate Planning problems.
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