Posted: Wednesday, 13 May 2020 @ 11:19
What are the things to look for which will lead a lawyer to think that legal action should be taken against the executor, be that an inventory and account(very easy) or removal of executor.
Failure To Pay Out - - The executor has one year to distribute the estate(The Executors' year) and the failure to make the distribution within this time can be a big tell tell sign of executor misconduct and possibly fraud. Frustrating for the beneficiary and not a good look before a judge, but useful for the lawyer..
Failure to Communicate - A classic sign of executor misbehavour is a total absence of executor is to contact the beneficiaries, and to simply ignore the beneficiaries.
Poor Communication - Alternatively there may be communication but it is so poor, financial information withheld, evasiveness.
Financial Misbehaviour - If an executor has shown a pattern of questionable financial actions this can give cause for concern. A very simple tactic is to ask the executor to provide financial accounts of the estate and bank statements. If these are not provided this may give cause for concern. A simple solution can be to ask for an inventory and account of the estate.
Display of Exasperation - From having sued many executors my experience is that if you do get into correspondence or conversations with errant executors they are not very good at displaying patience.