For most people, choosing an executor or trustee means choosing someone close to them – a family member or a friend. However, this often means their executor or trustee is also a beneficiary. But, will choosing a beneficiary create a conflict of interest? The short answer is, the best way to avoid a conflict is to be as specific as possible in your instructions to your executor and beneficiaries. An executor or trustee has a legal duty to manage the property and assets in the decedent’s estate for the benefit of the trust or estate beneficiaries. This means that while the executor/trustee should be compassionate, they must also act in an equal and unemotional manner toward every beneficiary. A beneficiary, on the other hand, is often emotionally involved. Even those beneficiaries who are not concerned with the monetary aspect of their inheritance will likely be emotionally invested in the heirlooms
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