The Essential Executor's Handbook

No matter how little you know about law, accounting, and the rest, The Essential Executor's Handbook will lead you by the hand through the settlement process.

Many of you, regardless of your feelings on the matter, will eventually be appointed as executor of your parents', spouse's, or another's estate.

Just calling an attorney isn't enough. Settling a decedent's estate may require the combined expertise of accountants, appraisers, auctioneers, realtors, bankers, brokers, insurance companies, a myriad of bureaucrats, and, yes, even lawyers.

Where do you start? How do you empty a house crammed with a lifetime's worth of knick-knacks, bad art, and unopened mail? How do you deal with long-lost relatives who think you're taking too long or charging too much? And how do you oversee those professionals who know so much more than you about the process?

The Essential Executor's Handbook not only explains the steps involved in settling an estate, but it shows you how to get all these professionals to do the work for you. You will learn everything you need to know about the basic laws and procedures involved; all the legal definitions you could possibly want; and why each professional is necessary, what they do, what they charge, and where to find them.

David G. Hoffman is the senior partner at the law firm of Hoffman & Mathey, P.C. He has been a practicing attorney and author for more than 35 years and a lecturer for the University of Maryland, the George Washington University, and numerous private and public organizations. Articles and presentations with titles such as "Why Simple Wills Simply Won't" and "The No-Plan Estate Plan" have made him a popular personality in the Washington, D.C. community. He lives in Northern Virginia.