In recent weeks I have had to attend to the personal affairs of
a close relative who had died after a short spell in hospital. I
was named as the sole executor so it was my responsibility to
firstly verify the person's assets, then attend to any debts
and, finally, arrange distribution of the residue to the various
beneficiaries. In this case, the estate was very straightforward
because the will had been professionally prepared. As I write, all
the beneficiaries have been contacted and I expect the formalities
to be completed in the next month or two.
My experience, at least in terms of my duties to the estate, has
not been too painful. But it set me thinking that such an outcome,
coming at a time of obvious stress for the deceased's
relatives, could not have been achieved without prior planning. As
someone once said, the only certainties are death and taxes, but
the timing of the former and the scope of the latter are less easy
to predict. So what steps can we take
