I am appointed executor for my mother's will. She may have a few thousand left if she lives that long, but all her accounts have all siblings listed as equal beneficiaries. So if there are outstanding bills, expenses, or debts, how do I take care of my legal obligation to pay those off if the financial institutions pay on death directly to the beneficiaries?
POD beneficiaries at our deaths, so that my executors can pay final expenses, real estate and income taxes that undoubted ly will be due. May we set up some
asets with the executors being beneficiaries for this purpose?
This is important to me because I need to make sure that there are funds for that purpose specifically and that no one gets any bequest until that happens. I want it right there in the documents in black and white so there are no challenges if someone wants his/her share first.
You mentioned 3 categories: final expenses (which should be covered as first expenses if you had an attorney prepare your will or trust), real estate and income taxes. I believe, but would have to check our documents as well as do a little bit of research, that taxes are addressed as well in the clause about payment of final expenses, as it's the responsibility of a trustee or personal representative (formerly known as executor or executrix) to ensure that all taxes are in fact paid before closing the estate.
This definitely is a question and request for an attorney to ensure that the will and/or trust are prepared properly to cover this need. I agree with AK that making assets payable to the Executor could be misconstrued, and even though I assume you trust your Executor, there's no guarantee that the funds will be used for the specific purposes you want.
I think also that this could really complicate administration of the estate.