Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York
can an executor be legally liable for causing undue hardship to a beneficiary
My Mother passed away 2 yrs ago We had the identical name. A sister is Executor I'm one of the beneficaries. The Executor deliberately(long story)ignored certain bills in regards to my Mother which should have been paid out from the estate. I found this out when I was recently denied a car loan because of negative items on my credit report Upon securing my credit report online I found these neg.items to be unpaid medical debts incurred by my Mother shortly before her death. The bills were turned over for collecion and are now adversely affecting my credit. My credit category has gone from excellent to poor since I got my last credit report less than a yr ago. Other info. regarding my late Mother is on my credit report including her work history, retirement status, her SSN listed as a ''Number Variation'', some credit history, my father(her husband)is listed as my spouse, my Mother's address etc. Beside the fact that it will take months to clear up this mess I was made to feel like a criminal by the lending institution. In my opinion the Executor is at fault for creating this problem, and if she is holding off other creditors it may happen again. She won't discuss estate info with family other than to say she's taking care of it
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: can an executor be legally liable for causing undue hardship to a beneficiary
You didn't ask a question but you can demand an accounting from your sister in Surrogate's court and she will have to reveal what she has done/paid/not paid etc with estate $$.
This is a formal demand filed with the court.
Re: can an executor be legally liable for causing undue hardship to a beneficiary
I AGREE WITH DEBRA THAT YOU SHOULD PROMPTLY DEMAND AN ACCOUNTING FROM THE EXECUTRIX, FOR ALL INFORMATION REGARDING THE ESTATE (ASSETS, DEBTS, ETC.). IF NOTHING WAS DONE, YOU CAN ASK TO HAVE THE EXECUTRIX REMOVED AND REPLACED. I SUGGEST YOU RETAIN A GOOD ESTATE ATTORNEY TO ASSIST YOU. YOU ALSO NEED TO HAVE AN ATTORNEY ASSIST YOU CLEAR THE CREDIT MATTERS.
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