Probate & Trust Law Section Conference Manual ... - Minnesota CLE

1. A decedent’s dispositive documents should grant
the executor sufficient powers to deal with
options and to compensate for the liquidity
demands that may be created by the need to
exercise options after death.
2. The executor should be granted specific authority
to exercise stock options, to borrow funds
necessary to exercise these options, and to
pledge the stock as collateral, or to hire a
financial advisor to assist the executor in these
matters.
3. The client should be aware that he or she may
bequeath options to charity.
4. Finally, the dispositive documents should
protect the executor, to the fullest extent
possible under state law, from liability for his,
her or its actions in dealing with this type of
sophisticated financial instrument. If the
executor is a financial institution, it would be
appropriate to permit self-dealing in the terms of
the Will so that, where appropriate, the executor
could deal with itself in setting the estate.
– 15 –