Managing investments in an estate comes with added risks in volatile markets
Executors can share the investment strategy with beneficiaries and ask for feedback so any concerns are raised at the beginning.Visual Generation/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
Executors often err on the side of caution when managing an estate’s financial assets to avoid losing heirs’ money. But simply selling investments and parking proceeds in cash comes with its own risks.
James Steele, an estate partner at Robertson Stromberg LLP in Saskatoon, says keeping the money liquid makes sense when dealing with routine estates that will be settled within a couple of years.
But he has seen numerous estates in which farmland sales bring in $2-million or more, and the executors just let those proceeds languish in a bank…
