How to Hire an Executor by Anthony S. Park

Good Read for Heirs or while Estate Planning

I have read the author’s previous book on probate and found that to be a well-organized and insightful work on what can be a very tricky subject. I’m happy to say that this book is as well done as that one. It follows a logical flow, first talking about what precisely an executor is and problems that one can have with an estate if an executor is not up for the job. He then goes onto the meat of the book, first describing what a professional executor does and then going into other details like fees, the hiring process, and what to expect. As in the book for probate, the book is very neatly organized into chapters and topics with examples clearly marked with italics and a bulleted takeaway list at the end of each chapter. The author is an attorney, so there is some bias toward hiring a professional, but he does look at the pitfalls of having each type of executor, personal or professional, as well as the processes involved.

For whatever reason, I have been reading and reviewing a lot of nonfiction in the last week. Most of it, unfortunately, has been so poorly formatted that it is actually hard to read. I’ve read books where even the table of contents was a mess, let alone the rest of the book. So it was a pure delight to open the Kindle version of this book and see a perfectly formatted ebook. The table of contents is well organized and concise, and the chapters are well laid out with subtopic headings and the purposeful formatting I mentioned in the previous paragraph. It really does make a difference for a reader enjoyment when a book is formatted well!

In the last chapter of the book, the author does put forth his own services as a professional executor. He clearly states the type of clients that he works for. Normally, I don’t like it when a book like this ends on a big sales pitch, but I feel like the author actually earned a little space to talk about his business because of the quality of information shared in the bulk of the book. This can be easily skipped over if it doesn’t apply to you. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who is in the estate planning process or for heirs trying to sort out an estate; this book will help both parties figure out whether a professional executor is the right choice.