Excuses for not administering estate in timely manner
It would be beneficial to know what "excuses" he is using. How large is the estate?
In reviewing his emails, most of the excuses are that he want's to be sure he's doing everything right. So he always has one more new thing to check on. Or one more person to discuss things with (and that person isn't returning phone calls). Or one more market analysis before listing the house.
He received an offer on the house almost immediately after my aunt's death, but didn't sell it till 10 months later as far as I can tell - we never get any paperwork so only have his emails to go by.
He said he was going to start the estate transfer tax returns six months into the process but didn't file them until a year after the start of probate. Then he said that the IRS and the state of NJ weren't providing the closing letters - that apparently took almost half a year - but we never actually saw any of the returns so we don't know when he really filed them. There were no challenges by state or feds, or by court or anyone, as far as we know, so there's no reason for the delay.
Each thing he does, he does sequentially, and doesn't start the next step till he is satisfied that the last is completed. I checked with my own accountant who has handled quite a number of estates (larger by far than this one) and there are many steps he takes at the same time.
The accountant/executor says he is just being careful, but the last straw was when he hired an attorney in the past few months, and suddenly instead of sending all the final papers within two weeks, it could be another six months, because, the attorney said, the number of beneficiaries (15 - me, all my cousins plus my aunt and uncle's siblings)was so high that the attorney wanted to take it in more steps - two months to send out some papers to us, then wait for beneficiaries to send paperwork back, then two or three months to send out the next paperwork, etc. etc.
I know in NJ the executor gets a percentage of any interest accrued by the estate. He has never told us what the value of the estate is, but I know my aunt had a good amount of stocks. I can't help but wonder if this guy is dragging his feet so he can earn more money on his interest. Until he sends some sort of accounting, there's just no way for us to know whether he's using the time to earn more money or he's just a really, really careful person. I am simply tired of his dragging this out, which is why I wondered if there are any rights for beneficiaries, such as the right for timely administration of estates.
