Executor not doing their job

[luckyjoe123]

What is the name of your state? Iowa

The executor that is in charge of our Uncle's Will is not doing her job. There are 7 beneficiaries and she has never contacted any of us in the 1 1/2 years since our uncle passed away. She literally contacted one of the beneficiaries 5 months after our uncle passed to tell her to let everyone else know that they were beneficiaries of the Will and to contact the lawyer with our information. Unfortunately the lawyer is no better. The only time any of us has had contact with him is if we either called or emailed him with questions. Even then everything is just so weird and you have to drag any info out of him also. Our emails to the lawyer mostly go unanswered and we are all wondering what is going on! The executor is very angry that any of us are in the will and after only 2 text messages to her for an update she told me that we need to stop harassing and threatening her.....I was like what are you talking about!
What would be the best way to handle this? The lawyer is slowly getting things done but we are all just wanting this to be over with! Thanks!

 

[doucar]

You all could hire your own lawyer to look into the estate and find a resolution and then follow your lawyers advise. The estate lawyer would more likely respond to another lawyer.

 

[zddoodah]

The executor that is in charge of our Uncle's Will is not doing her job. There are 7 beneficiaries and she has never contacted any of us in the 1 1/2 years since our uncle passed away.

Just to be clear, has this person been appointed by the probate court to serve as executor? Also, what is the value of the estate?

She literally contacted one of the beneficiaries 5 months after our uncle passed to tell her to let everyone else know that they were beneficiaries of the Will and to contact the lawyer with our information.

First you wrote that "she has never contacted any of [the beneficiaries] in the 1 1/2 years since [your] uncle" died, but now you're contradicting that statement. And I assume this is a lawyer that the executor hired to represent her in her capacity as executor. Correct?

The only time any of us has had contact with him is if we either called or emailed him with questions.

Ok...so you wrote that the executor is "not doing [her] job," but it sounds more like you have expectations that are off the mark. Other than responding when you ask questions, for what purpose do you want these people to contact you?

What would be the best way to handle this?

Consult with a local probate attorney and have him/her review the relevant documentation. It may very well be that everything is happening as it should.

 

[bcr229]

Some counties have online systems where you can search for information on court cases. Do a Google search on the name of the county where your uncle was living when he passed away and see if such a system exists for that county. If it does you may at least be able to get the case status or see what has been filed.

 

[luckyjoe123]

Just to be clear, has this person been appointed by the probate court to serve as executor? Also, what is the value of the estate?

Yes this person has been appointed by probate to serve as executor. The value is almost $900K




First you wrote that "she has never contacted any of [the beneficiaries] in the 1 1/2 years since [your] uncle" died, but now you're contradicting that statement. And I assume this is a lawyer that the executor hired to represent her in her capacity as executor. Correct?

Well, one text message to one of the beneficiaries is pretty much never.....sorry I should not have said never but that was the only time she ever reached out to any one of us! This is the same lawyer that helped my uncle write out the Will so he is the lawyer that contacted the executor when he passed.



Ok...so you wrote that the executor is "not doing [her] job," but it sounds more like you have expectations that are off the mark. Other than responding when you ask questions, for what purpose do you want these people to contact you?

Well we all know that they are both working for us and are supposed to keep everyone up to date with a reasonable amount of information. She has literally never contacted us with 1 update!


Consult with a local probate attorney and have him/her review the relevant documentation. It may very well be that everything is happening as it should.

So, we have had inheritance tax clearance on 2/28/2023 and that is the last thing that has happened. When we asked him if he could send us the inventory document or letter of accounting, whichever you call it....so that we could all look it over and if it looked ok that we could all sign it and send it back to him so that there is no further delay, he said that he was going to get it all ready to go and send it out to us. Well now he said he is going to get it all together when he gets clearance from the Iowa dept of revenue when the estate taxes are accepted. I am pretty sure that he could send the letter of accounting to us.....and this is the 2nd time that he has said he was going to do it and just never does. Basically a year and a half later we are all just in limbo.

 

[luckyjoe123]

Some counties have online systems where you can search for information on court cases. Do a Google search on the name of the county where your uncle was living when he passed away and see if such a system exists for that county. If it does you may at least be able to get the case status or see what has been filed.

I finally got on there last night and the last thing that was filed was the inheritance tax clearance on 2/28/2023. He now says that he is waiting on the iowa department of revenue for clearance of estate taxes. Do we have to wait for that clearance to get the letter of accounting and then write checks?

 

[doucar]

Yes, otherwise if there is tax due, they will come after the Executor for it, and he/she will then come after you for reimbursement.

 

[luckyjoe123]

Another question, since the executor has done pretty much nothing....does she deserve her full pay from the estate? I

 

[Taxing Matters]

Yes, otherwise if there is tax due, they will come after the Executor for it, and he/she will then come after you for reimbursement.

I agree. My first job out of college was a revenue officer for the IRS. Assuming that the assets of the estate exceed the debts the executor could set aside enough assets to cover all the known debts and something more for any other claims that might come out the woodwork. When collecting unpaid income taxes of the decedent one of things I would is conduct a search for assets and meet with the taxpayer to give me a financial statement. If I determined the estate had the money to pay the tax (after taking into account any liens superior to the IRS lien) I'd start putting some fire under the executor to the taxes paid. If the executor dragged his/her feet getting the taxes paid, I'd start hitting the bank account, investment accounts, and looking for other assets that I could find could seize to get the taxes paid. The executor really doesn't want to deal with all that along the bigger bill from the interest and penalties. Thus estates that can pay the taxes owed somewhat quickly would come out better than if the IRS starts digging for things to attach to get the taxes paid.

 

[Zigner]

Another question, since the executor has done pretty much nothing....does she deserve her full pay from the estate? I

I suspect that your premise that "... the executor has pretty much done nothing" is not correct. You may just need to have a bit of patience.
Also, I need to point out that every time you contact the attorney, the attorney will bill for the time it takes to review and respond to your inquiry. The money to pay the attorney comes out of the estate's funds. In other words, you (and the other 6) are paying the attorney to deal with your impatience.

 

[luckyjoe123]

I agree. My first job out of college was a revenue officer for the IRS. Assuming that the assets of the estate exceed the debts the executor could set aside enough assets to cover all the known debts and something more for any other claims that might come out the woodwork. When collecting unpaid income taxes of the decedent one of things I would is conduct a search for assets and meet with the taxpayer to give me a financial statement. If I determined the estate had the money to pay the tax (after taking into account any liens superior to the IRS lien) I'd start putting some fire under the executor to the taxes paid. If the executor dragged his/her feet getting the taxes paid, I'd start hitting the bank account, investment accounts, and looking for other assets that I could find could seize to get the taxes paid. The executor really doesn't want to deal with all that along the bigger bill from the interest and penalties. Thus estates that can pay the taxes owed somewhat quickly would come out better than if the IRS starts digging for things to attach to get the taxes paid.

I suspect that your premise that "... the executor has pretty much done nothing" is not correct. You may just need to have a bit of patience.
Also, I need to point out that every time you contact the attorney, the attorney will bill for the time it takes to review and respond to your inquiry. The money to pay the attorney comes out of the estate's funds. In other words, you (and the other 6) are paying the attorney to deal with your impatience.

Not true....the executor and the lawyer each are getting a flat fee of $16K each

 

[Zigner]

Not true....the executor and the lawyer each are getting a flat fee of $16K each

Strange that you would know that if they're not doing anything.

 

[luckyjoe123]

Strange that you would know that if they're not doing anything.

Well not so strange when we had to ask the lawyer ourselves.....and we also looked it up on the courts online and saw that they wrote themselves out a check last September already. So....

 

[Zigner]

I'm sorry that things aren't progressing as rapidly as you would like. Unfortunately, these things can take time. A year and a half may be longer than other estates take to settle, but it is not out of the realm of "normal".

 

[bcr229]

Not true....the executor and the lawyer each are getting a flat fee of $16K each

I can't remember the rules about posting links on this site so... if you Google "iowa executor estate fee calculator" and run the numbers, the standard fee for a $900k estate is more than $16,000.

Obviously probate has been progressing if estate tax returns are getting filed, so the executor is doing her job.