Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York
Changing an executor
My father passed away and named my sister the executor. She is not doing proper follow up and has delayed the process now for over 5 months on a fairly simple estate. When I try to get any information out of her, the standard response is ''it will be another month''. What information am I entitled to receive as a beneficiary and can we ask the court to replace her? She openly admitted to me that her resistance to completing the process in a timely manner is because she is afraid that this will bring closure to my fathers death and doesn't want to face it.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Changing an executor
As a beneficiary, you are entitled to an accounting of the estate and, if the executor has acted improperly to bring an application to have her removed and replaced by the next person named in the Will. You provide no information on the estate, except to say it is "fairly simple". 5 months is not a long time in estate administration, traditionally, if there are creditor issues, possible death tax returns (which depend upon the size of the estate), final income tax returns and other administrative details that may take some time to finalize. If the problem is purely emotional, as you suggest, offer to assist her or recommend she get an outside professional (estate attorney or accountant) to assist her in cleaning this up while she completes her grieving period.
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