Estate Accounting Software

Introduction

Unlike a general accounting system, EstateExec is optimized to help you settle estates, with the expectation that assets will be sold or distributed, debts will be resolved, and that ultimately the net estate will be distributed to the rightful heirs. Along the way, the estate may generate income, pay administration expenses, handle tax obligations, and more.

Estate-Centric: EstateExec's estate-centric paradigm enables you to enter information in one place, and have it automatically reflected everywhere throughout the estate. For example, if you record an asset sale, EstateExec will know to remove it from the current inventory and to record any gains or losses. If you write a debt payment check, EstateExec will know to reduce the amount owed on the debt. If you write a distribution check, EstateExec will know to reduce the balance of the asset from which the check was drawn, and to update the receiving heir's distribution list. And of course, all such changes will be reflected in any Inventory or Accounting Reports you generate.

Specialized Features: In addition, EstateExec provides specialized estate accounting features, for example calculating deemed disposition based on asset details (don't worry, you can always override these types of things within EstateExec if your circumstances differ).

In summary, EstateExec handles the complexity of estate accounting for you, with the result that what you see looks easy and natural.

Estate Accounting Framework

EstateExec is fundamentally organized around the key elements of estate settlement, providing separate user interface tabs for assets, debts, transactions, heirs, and distributions. Behind the scenes, those tabs are all seamlessly linked to form an integrated representation of the estate.

At the end of a settlement process, there should be no assets listed as remaining in the estate, all debts should have been resolved, and the heirs should have received their rightful distributions. Everything done to accomplish this, and to manage the estate throughout the settlement process, can be considered financial "transactions".

While EstateExec makes it easy to quickly record transactions on the Assets Tab (for example, noting that an asset has been sold or distributed), or on the Debts Tab (for example, noting that a debt has been paid), the Cashflow Tab lies at the heart of the accounting system, and all transactions will ultimately be listed here, in a checkbook-like register (you can use the asset selector in the top left to view just transactions for a single asset, or for all assets simultaneously).

Once you have entered estate assets into EstateExec, see Manage Estate Cash for details on entering transactions via this centralized registry.

Bank Import

While you can easily enter transaction information yourself, EstateExec also offers you the ability to directly download transactions from a bank, potentially saving time and improving data accuracy. When you download transactions, EstateExec AI will attempt to categorize transactions (e.g., debt payments, distributions, administration expenses), and appropriately update affected estate items. Don't worry... you get a chance to review these assessments and ignore them, make changes, or use them as is. It's simple!

Practical Estate Features

Beyond "simply" organizing everything to naturally support estate accounting, EstateExec provides specialized features to support common estate settlement scenarios. For example:

• Executor Expenses: It's common for an executor to end up paying some estate administration expenses out of his or her own personal funds, with the expectation that he or she will be reimbursed by the estate. EstateExec provides a dedicated facility for recording executor expenses, which automatically maintains an "Unreimbursed Executor Expenses" line item in the Debts table, and makes it easy to group multiple expenses into a single reimbursement transaction.
• Executor Fees: Executors are entitled to compensation for their work, and if the compensation isn't specified in the will, province-specific rules define default fees that are sometimes complex and sometimes vague. EstateExec can automatically analyze your estate (does not apply to trusts) and make executor fee calculations for you!
• Refunds: Refunds received by an estate for payments made while the decedent was still alive are considered assets as of the time of death, regardless of when they are actually received. No one wants to see a bunch of tiny "assets" such as "$40 subscription refund" individually listed in the estate inventory, so EstateExec makes it easy to record these refund checks as you receive them and automatically update a Sundry Refunds asset (of course you can instead individually list substantial refunds as assets as appropriate).
• Deemed Disposition: When someone dies, their capital assets (i.e. most assets other than personal use items) are deemed by the CRA to have been virtually sold immediately before death, so that any gains in asset value are recognized and any associated taxes are due on the decedent's final tax return. EstateExec automatically calculates default deemed proceeds, respecting asset class implications, as well as optional spousal deferments (and you can manually override any of this if desired).
• And More...

Accounting Reports

EstateExec can generate standard accounting reports covering the entire estate settlement period (i.e., a Final Accounting), just a single year, or any arbitrary time period. See Accounting Reports for options, and note that EstateExec can exclude non-probate items if desired, as well as generate carry-value accounting reports if that is required for your jurisdiction.

Standard Summary Page (download entire report)

While not strictly an accounting report, EstateExec can also generate Inventory Reports (as of any arbitrary date), as well as output any table (e.g., Cashflow, Assets, Distributions, etc.) into a simple PDF or into a comma-separated-value (CSV) file which can be imported into Excel or other financial programs.

Getting Started

EstateExec is designed to lead you through the Canadian estate settlement process, and automatically creates a series of tasks for you to follow on the Tasks Tab. When you first create an EstateExec estate, EstateExec will guide you to the Tasks tab by default, but if all you want to do is to track the estate accounting, you can just ignore them or mark most of them N/A (although some of the tasks do gradually introduce you to EstateExec accounting).

When you're ready, you can Enter Assets on the Assets Tab, then begin entering transactions. You may also want to take a look at some of the EstateExec Reference sections below:

• Using EstateExec
• Assets
• Debts
• Cash (i.e., Transactions)
• Distributions

If you have questions, EstateExec offers a number of ways to help, including AI Lenore. You can also get help from a real human: see Support.