Estate Administration Problems That Can Be Encountered During Will Execution

Blog

The entire premise of drawing up a will is to ensure that all pertinent financial issues are addressed before someone becomes deceased. Thus, the beneficiaries of the will tend to believe that the process of executing their loved one's wishes will be a smooth and straightforward process. However, this is not always the case. Knowing some of the different issues that can crop up beforehand can give you better insight on how best to draw up a will. Below are just a few of the estate administration problems that can be encountered during will execution.

Either an executor is not appointed or they decline their role

A mistake some people can make when drawing a will is not assigning a precise executor for the will. On the other hand, the deceased may have appointed an administrator without their consent, which can lead into the executor declining their role in administering the estate.

If you find yourself in this situation, you and other beneficiaries of the will can go to court to have someone new appointed as the official executor. This individual will typically also be one of the recipients of the estate. If the beneficiaries cannot come to a consensus, then the court can mandate a public administrator to take over the role of executor of the will.

Joint executors cannot come to an agreement

Another issue that can happen during the execution of a will is if the joint executors cannot come to a consensus about the administration of the estate. These disagreements can stem from an assortment of reasons. Most commonly, non-consensus will be due to a conflict of interest between the joint executors. However, it can also crop up if one of the joint executors is not being accountable to the other executor or if it can be proven that a joint administrator has engaged in some form of misconduct regarding the will. In worst-case scenarios, a complete breakdown between the joint executors would also mean that the will cannot be executed.

In this type of scenario, the beneficiaries and executors can file a petition to the courts so that they can get an objective decision made about the way forward. Although the courts are not in the habit of disregarding the deceased's wishes on who should execute their will, exceptional circumstances would task the court with ensuring that the best interests of all involved are kept at the forefront in deciding who will be the executor of the will.

Share

13 September 2017

Dealing with Divorce: Top Tips

Hello, my name is Victor and last year was one of the worst years of my life. I was going through a tough divorce. I had to work out how to divide my money, the house I owned with my wife as well as organising who was going to get access to the kids. The only thing that got me through this entire experience was my wonderful divorce attorney. He explained exactly what I needed to do to get the best outcome and represented me in court. I'm now ready to move on with my life and make the most of the future.