Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New Jersey

Re: Slow Moving Executor

This is a situation I have seen many times both in my service as Deputy Surrogate and in my private practice afterwards. Beneficiaries are interested in seeing things done properly while executors want to work without without having to answer to every question. NJ law provides that executors have up to a year to administer an estate before it will get involved and order that an estate accounting be given unless there are special reasons for doing so earlier than that. NJ law also provides generally that no distributions be made for the first 6 months in order to enable the executor to locate all assets and determine all of the debts. There is no viable way to force an executor to answer questions or keep beneficiaries apprised of progress. After the first year, you can force the executor to provide an intermediate accounting, but this can be costly because that kind of demand must be made by filing a a verified complaint and obtaining an order to show cause. The fact that the executor ignores a beneficiary will not, of itself, cause a court to take action in that first year. Essentially, the system is that the executor is allowed to do his work without interruption but that the beneficiary has the final say at the conclusion of the administration of the estate whether or not everything was done properly. If things have been done improperly and caused losses, the beneficiary can sue the executor for those losses. Unfortunately, there is no statutory requirement for regular updates even after the first year.

As to the property taxes, without knowing any particulars about the provisions in the will, I would advise you that you are the one responsible for paying the taxes on the property. This is because as of the date of death, you are the owner even if you don't have possession. Post death taxes on real estate are not proper expenses of the estate administration and the executor would be wrong to reimburse you for them unless there is something in the will that provided for it. If the estate is definately solvent, you may be able to sue the executor to make him distribute the house to you.

Re: Slow Moving Executor

you may contact the Surrogate for the County in which the estate was opened [should be the County where your mother resided at the time of her death] to ask what, if anything has been filed by the Executor and how you get any reports or require action by the executor.

You may need an estates lawyer to assist you, but it may be possible to get a suggestion from the Surrogate that you could carry out on your own.

Re: Slow Moving Executor

The problem that you describe is not unusual. If you are unable to get the executor to keep you informed without prompting, the formal procedure is to sue for an accounting of the estate. That is a relatively simple process and will result in an order to the executor to account for the assets of the estate to the court and you will get copies of everything. If you then believe that the executor has not done his job, you can ask to have him replaced.

If I can be of further help to you, call or email.

See also: http://info.corbettlaw.net/lawguru.htm