5 great tips for first-timers in estate management

There are two distinct types of estate management. One involves overseeing a living person’s financial interests; the other is handling a deceased person’s final wills and testaments, as detailed in a definition of “estate management” by the Reference website. If you have recently become involved with either form of estate management for the first time, you could be excused for feeling daunted. Here are 5 tips for helping you to carefully get around the pitfalls.

Don’t underestimate the responsibilities of a living person’s estate manager

If you become this kind of estate manager, your exact set of responsibilities could largely depend on what your employer asks of you. However, it’s crucial to look at many of the tasks that such a manager will do; you can’t always be certain what precisely you will be asked to do and when. Tasks could include looking at the employer’s stock portfolio, speaking with that employer about what property they intend to acquire next, and arranging the occasional party at short notice.

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Educate yourself about what a deceased person’s estate manager does

After the estate owner’s death, this manager will typically get in touch with family members and work associates while working towards the fulfilment of the deceased individual’s wishes for their funeral. Then, working with that individual’s lawyers, they will check that the property, money and other assets comprising the estate will be distributed strictly in adherence to the will’s terms.

Discern the differences between estate management and business management

They might be termed similarly, but estate management and business management have vital differences to heed. Writing for The Real Estate Blog, former estate management student Nwabuis Dennis Nnabugwu explains that business management “is mainly concerned with the management of goods and services commercially and industrially”. By contrast, estate management “is involved with the management of interests in land and landed property.”

Don’t apply business management lessons to estate management

Nnabugwu has observed some people’s misconceptions that studying estate management is unnecessary for them as they are already familiar with business management. However, he has cautioned that “managerial skills used by estate managers in managing assets might be quite different from those of a business manager.” Therefore, you could too easily blunder if, in the attempt to handle estate management, you draw upon too many lessons from experience of business management. The two, Nnabugwu says, are “factually… not the same”.

Don’t be afraid to seek expert help with estate management

You are a beginner in estate management; so, you should not only acknowledge it but also, should you genuinely feel the need, look for assistance from outside sources. While you might initially find the Internet to be a treasure trove of advice about estate management, much of this information could be wrapped up in complex jargon that leaves you little better-informed than before.

However, when you are administering the UK-based estate of someone who has recently passed away, financial planning firm Partridge Muir & Warren is likely to be able to help with various tasks.