Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Texas
replace Executor
My Wife�s Mother died February 4 2009. There are two heirs my wife and her bother.
In the Will my wife�s bother is named as the Executor.
Assets
10 acres of land $ 40,000 est.
Mobile Home $9000.00 est.
Car $1500.00 est.
Personal property $2000.00 est.
Insurance $ 800.00
Debits
1 credit card $12,000
1 credit card $300
Funeral expenses $5000
The Will states the brother gets the land (he lives on the land in his own trailer) and my wife gets her mother�s trailer. They split everything else.
Since the death the Executor has done nothing, He has not filed the will or taken an inventory, informed creditors, paid taxes and insurance on the land, ETC�.
He has fallen on hard times (financially) his phones are shut off email account stopped, so we are unable to contact him.
So my Questions:
Can we have him removed as Executor and replaced by my wife? (She is named in the will as a replacement for her brother)
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: replace Executor
Yes. Probably the best (least costly) way to do this is to have the brother sign a document declining to be an executor. Then your wife, as the alternate, can apply for herself. Who has the original will?
Re: replace Executor
The brother is not the executor, only the probate court can appoint an executor, which is done after a petition is filed for probate of the estate according to the Will and the Will is filed with the court.
Your wife can petition the court for probate and appointment as executrix of the estate. Upon appointment by the court, she will have the legal authority to gather up all of the assets of the probate estate, give notice to creditors, pay expenses, debts and taxes, and then to distribute the remaining assets according to the Will.
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