Why Use EstateExec?
Show Table of ContentsIn today's world, would you do your taxes by hand? Then why would you try to handle the executor process that way? EstateExec saves you time, money, and sometimes even family relationships! EstateExec won the 2023 Worldwide Finance Award for best estate executor software in North America.
If You're Working without a Lawyer...
Save Weeks of Effort
Sure, you could search all over the Internet, or buy a couple of thick books and spend hours trying to decipher the executor process, but EstateExec will construct a custom plan for you and lay out the key steps in an easy-to-follow checklist with explanatory details and calculated due dates.
Even if you already know the executor process, you still have to do the work, and that includes tracking a variety of assets, ensuring debts are resolved, allocating distributions and more. EstateExec makes all this easy, and even enables you to optionally download transactions directly from your estate account's bank, reducing manual entry drudgery and minimizing the chance for errors.
It takes an average of 570 hours of work for an executor to settle a US estate, and while Canadian estates tend to be a bit simpler, they still require substantial effort. You could try to do all this by hand on paper, but that's a good way to introduce mistakes, and won't look particularly reliable if you have to submit these records to the court. You could try to build your own custom spreadsheets, but that takes time and effort, and when you're done they probably won't automatically link asset sales to the estate account balance, for example, or optimize asset distribution decisions.
Save Thousands of Dollars
Most executors are first-timers, and immediately head to a lawyer for help. This may actually be a good idea (see Do I Need a Lawyer?), but if EstateExec allows you to forgo using a lawyer, or reduce reliance on one, we estimate you'll save thousands of dollars: we don't have recent figures for Canada, but the average estate in the US spends $12,400 on legal and accounting fees.
EstateExec will also help you find hidden assets, AND provide unique discounts with third-party services needed by many executors, such as estate liquidators, junk removal services, and more. These discounts alone will likely more than pay for your EstateExec license!
Protect Yourself
An executor has a fiduciary duty to follow the correct processes ... and to be able to provide clear records of what you did (when you paid insurance bills, what expenses you incurred, which assets you sold and for how much, etc.). EstateExec makes this process easy, and you can print or save PDF files. You will likely have to submit these records to the probate court as a routine part of probate, but you'll be even happier to have them if something goes wrong and you end up challenged in court by an unhappy heir.
Preserve Family Relationships
Sadly, it's all too common for family relationships to become strained during the estate settlement process, as lack of information about the process and estate status leads to suspicions, confrontations, and even lawsuits. EstateExec will help you clearly present all the assets, debts, what you are doing with them, and who is getting what ... and you can optionally share this information online with heirs so they feel more comfortable, and can even indicate distribution preferences.
If You're Working with a Lawyer...
Save Days of Effort
Working with a lawyer can be very helpful, but settling an estate with a lawyer is a little like paying your taxes with an accountant ... you still have to do a lot of work. You're the one that has to go through the mail, collect the bills, gather the assets, track their value, decide which ones to sell, allocate items for the various heirs, and so on. Do you really want to devote weeks of additional time to this if you don't have to?
And if you're the one tracking estate finances, EstateExec can optionally download transactions directly from your estate account's bank, reducing manual entry drudgery and minimizing the chance for errors.
Reduce Costs
EstateExec should enable you to reduce the burden on your lawyer (and the average estate spends $12,400 on legal and accounting fees). EstateExec provides a convenient, structured way to share information about the estate, so that both you and your lawyer can log into the estate and see the latest status (expenses incurred, assets sold, distributions allocated, etc.), record actions, and so forth: this saves everyone time. Moreover, EstateExec will give you a clearer understanding of what is going on, so you don't have to spend as much time asking your lawyer questions and running up your bill. And if your lawyer is the one tracking estate financials, then he or she can reduce time required for manual data entry by automatically downloading transactions directly from the estate account's bank
Look at it this way: if EstateExec saves you just one hour of a lawyer's time, it will have more than paid for itself! And it's going to do much, much more for you.
Plus, EstateExec will help you find hidden assets, AND provide unique discounts with third-party services needed by many executors, such as estate liquidators, junk removal services, and more. These discounts alone will likely more than pay for your EstateExec license!
Preserve Family Relationships
Whether or not you're using a lawyer, family relationships can become strained during the estate settlement process, as lack of information about the process and estate status leads to suspicions, confrontations, and even lawsuits by other disgruntled heirs. EstateExec will help you clearly present all the assets, debts, what you are doing with them, and who is getting what ... and you can optionally share this information online with heirs so they feel more comfortable, and can even indicate distribution preferences.
If You Are a Lawyer...
Simplify Administration
As a lawyer, you will find that EstateExec is easy to use and saves significant time and effort: EstateExec is purpose-built software organized specifically for estate settlement: there's a place for everything, and it all fits together naturally from initial application to final disbursement. For example, if you enter a distribution on the Assets Tab, it will be reflected in the Cashflow Tab, the Distributions Tab, and the Accounting Report.
Reduce Accounting Drudgery
EstateExec minimizes accounting drudgery for lawyers and other estate professionals (such as fiduciaries and accountants). EstateExec supports the automatic download and categorization of estate bank account transactions, intelligently steps up cost basis where appropriate, automatically calculates province-specific executor fees, can generate beautiful standard or carry value accounting reports, and more.
Easy Statute Reference
Lawyers find it helpful that the EstateExec Tasks link to relevant statutes, which can serve as a handy reminder if you deal with multiple geographies, or just want to make sure you have the latest information.
Online Coordination
EstateExec allows lawyers to share access to an estate with co-workers, clients, or even heirs, making it easier to cooperate and coordinate activity, to keep an eye on tasks assigned to others, and to ensure that the right things are being done. If you have a geographically disbursed team, this can be particularly useful, and the ability to attach files to virtually any item within EstateExec (e.g., transaction, contact, asset, etc.) makes it easy to keep everything in one organized repository.
What People are Saying...
It's "Free"
Remember that EstateExec is a qualified estate expense, so you can reimburse yourself the purchase price. It doesn't cost you anything.
Get Started Now
We know it's tough to serve as an executor, or even administer an estate as a professional, and we're here to help. Come join the many others who already rely on EstateExec. Get started now!