In an IMHO thread, the OP basically states that when his grandma died, his uncle (the grandma’s son) held an estate sale, left the house keys on the counter, and called the bank that owned the mortgage and told them to come get it.
If my mom leaves me in charge of her estate, and I straight-up don’t feel like fucking with it (mountains of paperwork, tons of personal crap to be sorted through, etc.), can I just wash my hands of it and tell the state to handle it? (Assume I’m the only heir.)
NOTE: You are not my lawyer, I am not your client, this is all hypothetical, blah blah blah.
I think the Probate Court, or whatever it is called in your area, will choose a personal representative if the named one declines. Or, if they feel that the named PR is not handling the estate properly, they can assign someone else.
At least in the US, one might be able to argue that being forced to serve as an Executor is a form of slavery or involuntary servitude forbidden by the Constitution.
Are there any jurisdictions that have rules that disqualify certain people even though they have been nominally appointed? For example, if the person appointed in the will is a convicted felon, currently incarcerated, illiterate, does not speak English or an official local language, is a foreigner not allowed to enter the country (e.g. barred from the US due to a criminal record), is a foreigner not allowed to work in the country, or has stated that they are unwilling to follow the court’s rules, can the court preemptively say “no thanks” and appoint someone else?
Uk wise (for information) i was once caught up in dreadful will/executor/family firestorm, and i can tell you yes you can resign as an executor, just have to write to the probate office saying you cant do it…they are very helpful on the phone.
oh and you can take “reasonable expenses” and "make reasonable steps to put the will into action, which can mean none of the will is enacted and all of the cash goes to you…
My understanding in Canada you can also decline an executorship. It will then fall to the provincial government to close out the estate. Any people who have a better knowledge of this than I do, please feel free to update.
One can always decline to act as executor. Probate court will appoint an “administrator with will annexed” to perform the duties. In SC, the law provides:
A U.K. alternative is to appoint an administrator. You are still the executor and still legally responsible, but the administrator does almost all the work.
And note that this person will be paid, taking money out of the estate. And probably paid a pretty high hourly rate, much more than it would cost you to take the time to do this yourself.
And if you’re the only heir, it should be a fairly simple estate to handle. If you are worried about “tons of personal crap to be sorted through”, there are companies that will come in, sort it out, and auction it all off, or even buy it all themself & haul it away. But you’ll get a lot less money for it doing it that way.
Not sure “sorting through tons of personal crap” is the executor part of the job - unless it consists of decoding a huge wad of financial and other legal documents.
Besides, most wills (I hope) don’t and shouldn’t go into detail about Great Aunt Mary’s tea set, or the collection of bottlecaps - unless they are actually large, financially valuable items. they should simply say “the house to Fred” or “divide my estate 3 ways after a gift of $4000 to the Home for Wayward Cats”.
Sorting the rats nest of accumulated garbage is not the executor duty, it is clean-up. You don’t need to do that, but someobody has to do it or you sell the whole lot, building and contents, “as is” or give it to the lucky heir to deal with - “here,this is yours now”.
You’re correct, but most lawyers try to avoid such situations as much as possible.
When I’ve done wills, I always ask the testator to ask their preferred executors first. I emphasize that being an executor is not an somewhat honorary position with few responsibilities (like a Best Man or Maid of Honour); it is an important businesslike position with a number of legal obligations. It occasionally happens that a person tells me that they are sure a certain relative or friend would love to do it, only to tell me later that after asking, that person doesn’t want to. But asking people beforehand helps to avoid surprise (and a possible decline of the position) when the testator’s dies.
Notice I’ve been using “executors.” Typically, I’ll ask for two: a primary, and an alternate as backup if the primary cannot act as executor for some reason. Such reasons may be age or infirmity, but can also be the named executor simply declining to act (changed his or her mind about it, for example).
At any rate, these precautions generally ensure that when the time comes, at least one executor is ready and willing to assume the necessary duties; and the province need not be involved.
Yes, but the duty of excutor specifically - is to handle the financial/legal affairs of disbursing the estate? They are not personally responsible for sorting through personal effects if they choose not to? Plus, they can hire a lawyer out of the estate’s costs (not to mention the clean-up crew) if the paperwork is too complex?
the issue being - what is th value of the estate. If the house is in an underwater mortgage and there are no other assets, then grab whatever nice mementos from the house and leave it to the bank to clean up the mess?
I assume that if the house is “underwater” or any other debts, then the assets of the estate must go to handle the debts first? The executor cannot just divvy up mom’s $50,000 savings account to the heirs then call the bank to come get the house?
If the house is full of junk and you are the sole heir, then declining the executor position will get you out of the paperwork, but the appointed executor may sell the junkpile as-is, and from that firesale take their fee, so you lose a heck of a lot more than if you had tried to clean up and turn your sweat equity into cash inheritance…?
