Executor Administration

• Executors, sometimes known as estate administrators or personal representatives, has the duty to administer the estate, meaning she has to gather and inventory all estate property, pay outstanding debts or taxes and then give the remaining property to inheritors. The administration starts once the executor probates the will, meaning she brings the will before the court to determine its validity. After the court accepts the will the executor can begin taking account of the property and transferring estate property to new owners.
  
  

Removing the Executor

• Only the court can remove an executor, and a beneficiary can ask the court to do this by filing a request with the probate court. The details of this process differ between states, but in general, the beneficiary can file a petition with the court that states the beneficiary wants a new executor because the current executor has failed in his duties in some respect. Once the beneficiary files the petition, sometimes known as a complaint, it is then up to the executor to respond to the complaint in writing and appear in court for a hearing. At the hearing the court will determine whether to remove the executor and name a new one.
  
  

Other Options

• Apart from asking the court to remove an executor, a beneficiary can also request that the court order the executor to take specific actions. For example, a beneficiary can request the court order the executor to provide an accounting of estate assets and payments the executor has made using estate funds or ask the court to bar the executor from using estate funds to make any payments at all.
  
  

Considerations

• If you are a beneficiary to an estate and want to remove the executor, while it is possible to ask the court to do this, that doesn't mean you will succeed. The court does not have to appoint a new executor, and typically will not do so unless you can show the executor has failed in his duties to properly administer the estate. Misusing estate funds, failing to pay estate debts on time or other failures of duty may or may not be enough to have an executor removed. Only an experienced attorney can advise you on what you'll have to prove and what your chances are in your particular case.