Preparing your estate plan comes with many decisions. In addition to deciding how to pass on your legacy, you need to choose a personal representative you can trust to handle your estate.
Very often, life is unpredictable. Circumstances could change significantly between the time you create your estate plan and when it reaches probate.
Here’s what you should know about naming an additional personal representative for your estate plan.
Willing but unable
While you may not be concerned that your personal representative could pass away before you, there are other situations where you could need a “successor personal representative.”
The person you choose as your personal representative may be an excellent option when you create your estate plan, but by the time they need to fulfill their duties, their circumstances may change. Sometimes when a chosen personal representative moves or faces other stressful circumstances, they do not feel comfortable taking on the additional tasks that come with being a personal representative.
What happens if I do not choose an alternate?
If your personal representative is not able to fulfill their duties, and you have not named a successor personal representative, Florida has the following process in place for the person who would become next as the personal representative:
- A person selected by a majority of the beneficiaries of the estate
- A devisee under the will
Depending on your relationship with the other personal representative, you may want to include a successor personal representative. You may also want to consider talking to both people to discuss their duties as your personal representative.
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