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What are your responsibilities if you agree to be an executor?

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Published on 01 May 13 by "TAXATION IN AUSTRALIA" JOURNAL ARTICLE

Clients often ask trusted advisers to act as executors of their wills. Acceptance of the role of executor by an independent professional comes with significant burdens and risks. While the executor’s role is to administer the deceased’s wishes, pay debts, and distribute the assets to the beneficiaries, there is significant capacity for executors to affect the position of the beneficiaries, and vice versa, for a long time. The purpose of this article is to explain the duties and responsibilities of executorship.

The article discusses in detail the executor’s obligations to the deceased, to the beneficiaries and to creditors. Difficulties which an executor may encounter are considered. The author concludes that professionals may wish to explain to their clients that their value to the clients is in acting as advisers and that they could better serve the clients by partnering with third parties as executors.

Author profile

Donal Griffin
Donal Griffin is admitted as a lawyer in New South Wales, Australia and Ireland and has 30 years’ experience. Donal has a Masters degree in Wills and Estates. Helping families with business interests is his passion and he goes further than most lawyers by assisting families actually do the transitions, which is easier said than done. One tool he offers is a “pre-nup for siblings” as adult children struggle to share an inherited discretionary trust or estate. He is a lifelong learner and is mentored by Jay Hughes. He has written down some of this wisdom in his second book called “Be A Better Ancestor – Build one of the great families”. He is a better lawyer because he is a family adviser and businessman and he is a better family adviser and businessman because he is a lawyer. He also has a certificate in family systems theory and application from the Family Systems Institute (over 160 hours of course work which suggests to him that he should have received more than a lowly certificate). This helps him understand the clients in the context of their family. He is teaching his practical approach to other professionals who “get it” and want to do more of this work. This course is called “Be A Better Adviser”. Donal describes himself as a “Macquarie Street GP” but really thinks he is the Consigliere in the Godfather, Tom Hagen’s character. He drafts Wills, pre-nups, trusts and is the first point of contact for family members with legal issues, even criminal issues. The best question he gets asked is, “What do other people like me do?” The firm is a repository for the answers to this question. - Current at 06 July 2026
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