The person who serves as the executor of an estate has to do a lot of work. They have to secure property and communicate with creditors. They have to initiate probate proceedings and file taxes. They may have to sell property and distribute items to family members.
All of that can require many hours of work every week for a year or longer. Unfortunately, some executors just don’t do the work. That can have disastrous consequences like the three below.
Major assets start to lose value
Did you know that a home sitting vacant starts to lose value almost immediately? Vehicles that no one drives and that don’t receive proper maintenance could also lose some of their worth due to neglect. When an executor doesn’t take immediate steps to secure and manage major assets, the overall value of the estate may go down.
Creditor claims may increase due to non-payment
An executor needs to reach out to utility companies, mortgage lenders and many other businesses to settle financial accounts when someone dies. If they take more than a few weeks to start that process, there could be a massive accumulation of interest and late fees that will diminish the assets the estate has to distribute to others.
Assets from the estate could go missing or get destroyed
If the deceased party rented their home, a landlord might get sick of waiting for rent or for someone to come clean out the unit. Everything that the family had hoped to and here it might wind up in the trash. On the other hand, if someone owns their own home and family members had access to that home, people might steal property from the estate before the executor secures the residence.
An executor who doesn’t act in a timely manner damages the value of the estate and fails in their duty to the beneficiaries. Recognizing signs of executor incompetence could be a reason for you to initiate probate litigation to defend your inheritance.