executor liability

[bjsea]

What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania

I have a friend whose father's estate was closed in 1995. He has recently discovered large amounts of money (hundreds of thousands of dollars) were never accounted for in the first and final accounting of the estate. He has also discovered one of the executors claimed to be the son of his fatherin a property transfer from the estate to him, when in fact he was his brother and an executor of the estate. The property, worth over $100000 was transferred prior to the first and final accounting for $10. The other executors also benefitted from selling undervalued property to themeselves prior to the first and final accounting of the estate (which closed the estate).

Does the son have a right to put a claim in with the executor's liability insurance company?
Should he sue the executors to reopen the estate? Has the statute of limitations run its course and stopped him from action? What should be his course of action?

 

[Dandy Don]

Does your friend know the name of the executor's liability insurance company? Did your friend look at the probate file to see if an executor's bond was posted for this estate or whether the will exempted the executor from having to post a bond?

A statute of limitations probably has expired, but in actuality your friend needs to be discussing this matter with a local probate attorney to figure out his options about how to proceed. Even though the statute of limitations may have expired as far as probate, this executor appears to have committed infractions (fraud and/or theft) for which the statute of limitations is longer or may not even apply, thus giving your friend the latitude to perhaps sue to recover the misappropriated monies or have his attorney negotiate with the executor to ask executor to return the monies to avoid a lawsuit.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[Raya Tahan]

Under those facts, the executor breached his fiduciary duty to your friend. The statute of limitations has probably long expired. However, many states have a law called the “discovery rule”. Under this law, the statute is tolled during the time period that the plaintiff (your friend) had not yet discovered the infractions committed by the defendant (your friend’s uncle). In order to invoke the discovery rule, plaintiffs must show that they did not know about what happened, and that they could not have discovered it with reasonable diligence. For example, if the defendant purposefully concealed his bad actions, then the plaintiff might be able to invoke the discovery rule.

Good luck with your situation. I hope it works out well for your friend. FYI: My law firm's website has an online weekly newsletter on which we publish many articles and case briefs on these types of topics: http://www.tahanlaw.com/ArizonaProbate

I am only licensed to practice in Arizona (not Pennsylvania), so I should also include the disclaimer that Arizona follows the majority law that is applicable in most states, and I am not trying to represent you as your attorney.

Sincerely,
Raya Tahan
www.tahanlaw.com