Personal representatives (i.e., executors and administrators of the estate) are required to provide beneficiaries and other interested parties (i.e., persons or entities with a financial stake in the estate) with financial information about the estate they are overseeing.
The final accounting will list the basic information that was in the inventory, and will set forth the total amount of funds received and total disbursements, including the distribution to the beneficiaries. It also will list the sale of any assets that were listed in the inventory.
Common non-probate assets include: Life insurance proceeds or pension benefits payable to a named beneficiary. Assets such as a home owned with someone else in joint tenancy or tenancy by the entirety. Assets with a listed beneficiary outside of the deceased person's will such as an IRA or payable-on-death bank account.
Surrogate's Court Procedure Act § 707 states that a nominated executor is ineligible to serve it if they are: (a) an infant; (b) an incompetent or incapacitated person as determined by the Court; (c) a non-citizen or non-permanent resident of the United States; (d) a felon; and (e) one who does not possess the ...
Before the executor can finalize probate and close the estate, they must provide a final accounting that includes: An itemized list of the estate's assets. Any funds or property received by the estate during its administration.
Liability when an executor makes a mistake Unfortunately, a genuine mistake can sometimes snowball into a much bigger and often expensive problem that can be very complicated to resolve. The executor of an estate can be held personally liable for a mistake that results in a loss to the estate.
If you can prove to the court that the current executor is incompetent or is mishandling the affairs of the estate, the court will relieve that executor and choose a replacement. If the will names an alternate executor, that will likely be the court's choice.
There is no set time for an Executor to complete the estate administration process, but there is a deadline when it comes to inheritance tax and an order that must be followed when settling an estate.
If the beneficiaries of an estate (or any one of them) believe that an executor is exercising an executor's power in an irrational or biased way, steps can be taken to challenge this and/or remove the offending executor from having any further role in administering the estate.