While many people are aware of the importance of maintaining up to date estate planning documents, they might forget about the need for the executor to have access to these documents. When a person dies the person selected to be the estate’s executor should have access to all of the important documents like the decedents original will. The important estate planning documents need to be stored in a safe and secure location and the executor should be told where to find them. If the documents are stored in a fire resistant waterproof safe the executor should be given a key to that safe. Any bank that might be holding property in a safety deposit box will also need to be notified of who the executor is.
See Molly Dear Abshire and Wesley E. Wright, ELDER LAW: Executor must have access to original will, Houston Chronicle, August 19, 2015.
