Executors have every motivation to be cautious and wait until FINAL approval by the IRS of all questions about valuation and until it confirms the absence of prior gifts, and until all the Probate Court actions are done with. First they are personally liable if the IRS comes to a different conclusion as to valuation or prior gifts. Second, it is always possible that claims of possible creditors will come in against the estate, even when not contested. For example a personal injury can come in from a neighbor who claims she injured him, or from the town that claimed she was a major toxic waste dumper, etc. If the Executor were to distribute money before the (death shortened) statute of limitations runs out, he or she may be personally liable. And, of course, sometimes delaying gives the Executor, or the attorneys, something to gain personally as they occasionally can charge more if it gets more complicated or takes longer to distribute.
As to how long it takes, it varies from locale to locale and case to case. It can be 4 months, or 18. It all depends, sometimes on how busy the office is, sometimes on the particular agent assigned, sometimes on the nature of the assets owned (for example cash is easier to value than real estate, sometimes on how aggressive the law firm and accounting firm were in the matter, and sometimes on the track record and reputation of the lawyer or accountant.
I would NOT jump to conclusions about the amount. While if the estate was tiny and everyone was confident that she had never made a gift of over $10,000 to any one person in her lifetime (which would have eaten away at the $675,000 lifetime exemption) the executor would probably not worry about the IRS issues, it does not necessarily mean there is over $1.3 million in the estate.
You might ask the executor, nicely, for a copy of the Will (it is probably on file in Probate Court and available to the public) and a copy of the 706 Federal Estate Tax filing. Or if you have some concerns, hire a lawyer to represent your interests (it should not cost too much), and the lawyer will ask for the 706.
Also ask the executor to release some money in advance of the final distribution -- particularly if there is a need for it. Sometimes they will release 10-50% as an advance.
[Edited by ALawyer on 01-17-2001 at 06:27 PM]