Estate Executor Organizer
One workbook for the four things an executor juggles at once: what the estate owns, what it owes, what moves through the estate account, and who gets what. The tabs are wired together, so a payment logged once updates everywhere it should.
- Date-of-death asset inventory, tracked from To locate to Distributed
- Estate ledger with a running balance and missing-receipt flags
- 40 prefilled probate tasks with day countdowns and overdue alerts
- Distribution calculator showing each beneficiary's entitlement, what they have received and what remains
Also usable in reverse: fill in the inventory and contacts now and leave your own executor a map instead of a mystery.
€15 one-off
One .xlsx file. Not on sale yet — instant download after payment once checkout opens. No subscription, no account to keep.
Checkout opens shortlyEmail support@vendwright.com to be told when this template goes on sale.An organisational tool, not legal advice
Probate rules differ by country and, in the US, by state. This workbook records and adds up what you tell it; it does not tell you what the law where you are requires. Confirm every deadline and every payment order with the court, registry or a lawyer handling the estate.
What it does
Being an executor is a part-time job nobody trained you for. You are expected to find every account, value everything as at the date of death, pay the right debts in the right order, keep records a court will accept, and then show the family that the split was fair. Most people do it in a folder of statements and a notes app, and then spend a fortnight at the end reconstructing what happened.
This workbook holds those four strands in one file and connects them. Log a payment once in the ledger with a debt reference, and the debts register updates itself — you never type an amount twice. Enter beneficiary shares on the dashboard and it shows each person's entitlement, what they have received and what remains, which is the table that ends arguments before they start. The task tab counts down to the dates you set, and the ledger's running balance turns the final accounting into a print job rather than a panic.
What it does not do: it does not calculate inheritance or estate tax, it does not file anything for you, and it does not know your jurisdiction's rules. It gives your accountant or solicitor tidy numbers instead of a shoebox.
Who it is for
Executors and administrators in the middle of it, who need one place for the money and one list of what is next — especially anyone who will have to hand a court or the beneficiaries a written account at the end.
People organising their own affairs, who want to leave a map: which bank, which policy, which drawer, who to ring. Fill in the inventory and contacts and leave the probate columns blank; review it once a year.
It suits an estate you can list on a few dozen rows — a house, some accounts, a car, personal property, a handful of debts. A contested estate, a trading business or a multi-country estate needs professional help; the workbook is still a useful record, but it will not be the whole answer.
Free tool first
Not sure you need a spreadsheet yet? The executor checklist generator builds a personalised, printable probate task list with typical target dates. It is free, needs no email address, and stands on its own.
Your data stays yours
The workbook is a file on your computer. There is no account, no sync and nothing phones home. The Instructions tab explains how to password-protect it, because an estate file is exactly the sort of document that should not sit unencrypted in an inbox.
What is inside, tab by tab
Six tabs. Every figure the dashboard shows is calculated from what you type on the other five.
1. Instructions
How the tabs feed each other, a six-step quick start, a plain-English glossary (probate, letters testamentary, date-of-death value, residuary estate), privacy guidance, and exact cell ranges for clearing the sample estate in about a minute.
2. Asset Inventory
150 rows. Asset type, institution, account identifier, ownership, contact, date-of-death value, current value, change, status, intended beneficiary, whether the paperwork has been found, notes. Beneficiary-designated assets are shown in grey italics because they usually pass outside probate.
3. Debts & Claims
100 rows. Creditor, type, account reference, amount at the date of death, status, deadline to respond, notes. You never type what has been paid: the Amount paid and Outstanding columns read the ledger by debt number. Deadlines turn amber inside 14 days and red once passed.
4. Estate Ledger
300 rows. The estate account's chequebook: date, payee or source, type, link reference, money in, money out, running balance, receipt kept, notes. Executor reimbursements highlight amber — they are the first thing beneficiaries question — and a missing receipt flags red.
5. Tasks & Contacts
40 prefilled probate tasks in typical order across six categories (immediate, legal, financial, property, tax, closing), with a days-left countdown: red for overdue, amber for due within a week, struck through when done. 60 task rows and 30 contact rows in total.
6. Dashboard
Gross estate, debts, estate expenses and executor reimbursements resolved into one net distributable figure, a distribution calculator with an entitled / distributed / remaining / settled column set and a share total that must reach 100%, an overdue-task count, and two charts.
A look inside
Screenshots of the workbook as it downloads, filled with the fictional sample estate. Every name, institution and figure in it is invented.
Specifications
| Format | One .xlsx workbook, about 53 KB |
|---|---|
| Tabs | Instructions, Asset Inventory, Debts & Claims, Estate Ledger, Tasks & Contacts, Dashboard |
| Capacity | 150 asset rows, 100 debt rows, 300 ledger rows, 60 task rows, 30 contacts |
| Works in | Excel 2016 and later, Microsoft 365, Google Sheets, LibreOffice Calc |
| Macros | None. Nothing to enable, nothing to trust |
| Formulas | SUM, SUMIF, SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, ROUND, TODAY — plain and readable |
| Charts | Two: estate composition, and gross estate to net distributable |
| Currency | Formatted in US dollars; change the number format of the money columns for pounds, euros or anything else |
| Sample data | A fictional estate, with cell-by-cell clearing instructions |
| Language | English |
| Delivery | Not on sale yet. When checkout opens: instant download after payment |
| Price | €15 one-off. No subscription and no renewal |
Honest limits
- It is jurisdiction-neutral by design. The sample estate is American, so a few task names mention an EIN, the IRS and Social Security — rename them for where you are.
- It does no tax calculation of any kind.
- The prefilled task dates are examples. Real deadlines come from your court, registry or tax authority.
- Charts and conditional-formatting colours come across into Google Sheets, but are worth a glance after importing.
- It is a spreadsheet, not software: no reminders, no multi-user sync, no audit trail beyond what you type.
- There are no reviews to show you yet. This product is new; the screenshots above are the whole pitch.
Questions
Is this legal advice?
No, and it cannot be. It is an organiser: it records what you enter and adds it up. Probate rules differ by country and by US state — who must be notified, in what order debts are paid, what the court wants to see. Confirm all of that with the court, registry or lawyer handling the estate.
Does it really work in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload it with File → Import → Upload and choose Replace spreadsheet. The formulas, dropdowns and charts come across; give the conditional-formatting colours a quick check afterwards, since Sheets occasionally reinterprets a rule. LibreOffice Calc opens it directly.
Are there macros?
None. It is a plain .xlsx built from SUM, SUMIF, SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, ROUND and TODAY. Nothing to enable, and no security prompt to click past.
It is formatted in dollars and I am not in the US.
Select the money columns and change the number format to your currency — the formulas do not care. The structure of the workbook is jurisdiction-neutral; only the sample estate and a few task names are American.
Can I use it for a UK estate?
The four things it tracks — what the estate owns, what it owes, what moves through the account, and who receives what — are the same in every jurisdiction, and a ledger with a running balance is exactly what the estate accounts you hand to the beneficiaries are built from. The task list uses American terms in places (EIN, IRS); rename those rows to grant of probate, HMRC and so on. Nothing in the file depends on the wording.
Does it arrive full of sample data?
Yes, deliberately: a fictional estate with 22 assets, 9 debts and 58 ledger entries, so that every formula, chart and status colour has something to show before you type anything. The Instructions tab lists the exact cell ranges to clear, which takes about a minute. All names, institutions and figures in it are invented.
Can I use it before anyone has died?
Yes, and it is half the reason it exists. Fill in the asset inventory and contacts, leave the date-of-death and status columns blank, and store it somewhere your executor will find it. Review it once a year.
Will it work out the inheritance tax?
No. It does no tax calculation at all. What it does is give whoever prepares the return a clean set of date-of-death values, a debts register and a complete record of money in and out.
Can my co-executor use the same file?
Yes. It is one file for one estate — use it with the people working on that estate with you. Please do not resell or redistribute it.
What if it will not open, or a formula looks wrong?
Email support@vendwright.com and say which tab and which cell. Refund terms are on the refunds page.
Get the workbook
€15, one file, instant download once checkout opens. Six tabs that already know how to talk to each other, and a sample estate showing you how.
€15 one-off · .xlsx · no macros
An organisational tool, not legal advice. Probate rules vary by state and country.