You should treat your executorship as a job and keep good records of receipts for your out-of-pocket expenses that you can later claim back from the estate, bank statements for the Deceased’s bank accounts from the date of death, and any other items relevant to the estate administration.
You may wish to keep detailed logs of any work performed by you as executor (disposing of / donating property, travelling costs and dealing with cleaning up of the home prior to listing for sale, etc.) so that if you wish to claim an executor’s fee from the estate (this is considered taxable income to you personally), you will have evidence to support your claim. There is a general cap of 5% of the value of the Estate that you may claim as an executor fee unless a different figure is specified in the Will. The maximum amount, however, can only be claimed for a very complex estate, otherwise a lesser amount should be claimed.
