Executor of the Will (Willensvollstrecker)

What an executor is entitled to do

The executor administers the estate, secures its assets, pays debts and legacies, draws up an inventory and prepares the division of the estate. He or she acts in their own name but on the estate's account, and is not bound by instructions from individual heirs.

For clearance work that is the decisive point: an executor can act alone. As proof we need the deed of appointment (Einsetzungsurkunde) or the confirmation issued by the competent authority.

The duties that come with it

An executor is obliged to administer the estate with due care and is accountable to the heirs. In concrete terms: he or she must be able to show what happened to which estate items and at what prices they were sold. Anyone ordering a clearance as an executor should therefore insist on clean documentation.

For that reason executors receive from us, as standard, an itemised list of every object set aside or sold together with the proceeds achieved, plus photographic documentation of the property's condition before and after the clearance.

Executor versus representative of the heirs

The executor is appointed by the deceased in the will. The representative of the community of heirs (Erbenvertreter) is appointed by the authority when a community of heirs cannot reach agreement. Both can act where the community of heirs is deadlocked — but only one of them was chosen by the deceased.