In some situations a person may not feel it appropriate to appoint someone in their family as the executor of their will. There are various reasons why someone might not want a family member to handle their estate after they are gone; possibly there are some problems between family members that could make it difficult to appoint a member of the family to be executor of a will. In some cases there are no family members and the person creating the will doesnt feel comfortable asking a friend to be executor.

If you are faced with this type of situation, there are institutions that can act as executor of your will. In fact, many banks offer this service to their customers. Along with appointing a bank as the executor of your will, you can also appoint a bank as trustee of your estate.

When you appoint a financial institution as the executor of your will, there is usually a fee associated with this service, though the cost may be lower if you are already a customer. In most cases the amount of the fee you will be charged will range anywhere from 1% to 2% of your estate.

In the event that you are thinking about appointing a financial institution as executor of your will you should be aware that some banks may require that you include special language in your will. If this is the case with your bank, find out exactly what the language is and bring it to your attorney so that your will can be modified to include it.

While it may give you peace of mind knowing that your financial institution will be executor of your will, there are some things that you might want to consider. The first consideration being that your bank is an institution and not a person. A lot of changes can take place and when it comes time for them to execute your will, the people actually taking care of this may be in some corporate office on the other side of the country. You might also want to ask yourself if an institution can really take care of your estates unique situation.

There are other options aside from financial institution, such as trust companies if your estate has a trust, and even your attorney. Deciding who will be executor of your will or trustee of your estate is a serious decision, and one that you will want to consider carefully.