Whatcom County Probate Q&A: Executor's Bad Behavior
I study WA State probate and estate planning in order to help our clients who are going through the settling of an estate.
This blog post is for informational purposes only.
I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY, AND THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE. But I ask attorneys a lot of questions and when it's applicable, I share their answers.
Today's question is:
Q: An estate executor, who is also one of several heirs to the estate, has left valuable personal property off a list of assets presented to the court. Or, possibly, the property was stolen before the executor could inventory it. Whatever the case, the other heirs to the estate are crying foul! What is the formal process for the other heirs to protest or file a grievance against the executor's (potentially) egregious actions?
A: There is no formal objection process for this situation. See the applicable Washington statutes HERE.The only formal objection process is to the appointment of the executor in RCW 11.28.020 which reads:
Any person interested in a will may file objections in writing to the granting of letters testamentary to the persons named as executors, or any of them, and the objection shall be heard and determined by the court.
Even though there is no formal process for protesting an executor's actions, the judge should be made aware via a court filing.
There should be some type of response file to the inventory stating that the inventory is not complete and adding the items along with proof that the estate owned them.
This is very likely going to require a probate lawyer to assist as there is no form since there is no statute specifically governing this issue.
The executor has certain duties to the estate and if the executor is not fulfilling them then this may be a case where you ask the court to remove and appoint a different executor who will be honest with the court; pending that this was not an honest mistake of course with some unknown property or odd situation.
But if the executor blatantly lies to the court then they should be petitioned to be removed.
Section 11.68.070 states that any party interested in an estate can petition the court to review and evaluate the actions of the estate’s executor. “Interested parties” in this context can be any of the following:
Creditors
Heirs
Devisees
Legatees
Any person representing any of the aforementioned parties
If in this case, after reviewing the actions of the executor, the court does indeed find that they either violated the rules inherent to their role or did not meet the expectations set forth in the settlor’s estate planning documents, it can choose to limit the executor’s responsibilities or remove them from the role completely (in which case a successor would then be appointed by the court).
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Again, I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY, AND THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE. The information above can be found doing a Google search and reading the Revised Code of Washington on the Washington State Legislature website.
I DO help with estate sales of real property.
If you or someone you know needs help in any regard related to the settling of your estate, even if it is a referral to an local attorney or "first steps" in handling the logistics after a loss, please email me at brandon@brandonnelson.com.
