Now, this actually asks two separate questions.
The first is if you are named as an executor under a will or if you’re named as a successor trustee under a trust, can you be forced to serve in those roles? And the answer, of course, is no. You are not required to serve as either an executor under a will or a successor trustee under a trust if you do not want to.
The second part of the question is if you are named as a beneficiary under a will or a beneficiary under a trust, are you required to inherit property under those instruments? And the answer, of course, is no. You are not required to accept property from somebody you do not want to. And so you can sign a document called a disclaimer, where you are giving up your interest in the inherited property so that the property technically never even comes into your hands or ownership.
I’m Matthew Crider, and this has been the quick question corner. If you enjoyed this video, please like this page.
Quick Question Corner is a video segment where we answer common questions about estate planning and elder law. If you have similar questions, leave them in the comment section and we can feature them in one of our videos in the future.
