Ask a Lawyer - Archive
   
Can the Executor of a Will Ignore Its Dispositive Provisions?
Richard A. Whitney

Q. 

Can the executor of the will disregard the written wishes of the deceased and make his own decisions with the will and keep all assets for themselves?

-- Anonymous

A. 

The answer to this question is quite clearly no. If the executor tries to keep everything for himself, the beneficiaries of the will can complain to the Surrogate's Court where the will was probated. Depending how and when the executor's actions were made known, probably the best step to take when the executor has already taken the estate, is to ask the court to direct the executor to account for what he has done with the estate.

If the executor's intent to keep everything for himself has not been acted on but only threatened, then a letter should be sent to the executor to disabuse him of any idea he may have about keeping everything for himself.



-- Richard A. Whitney

Terms & Conditions   Privacy   Copyright © 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.