Is there a legal time limit for an estate to be paid out after all debts settled?
Question Details: My Husband's grandmother passed away about 18 months ago. His mother is deceased to he gets her share of the estate (which is not much). There were very few expenses and the only thing outstanding was the sell of the house. It sold in April. The executor told a relative he was upset because he didn't get paid back a loan he supposedly gave to his mother so he is "sitting on" getting the estate closed. Is this legal? Also, he completely wiped the house out of all her belongings and gave them to his daughter who is not mentioned in the will. Everything is to be split equally. Legal?
No. Please, have your husband talk to a lawyer. If you can prove all of this, your husband can take the executor to court, and have the value of the things that he gave to his daughter put back into the estate -- out of the executor's pocket, and he should be able to force the executor to distribute the money.
An executor has what the law calls a fiduciary duty: it calls for the utmost honesty and good faith, and the executor absolutely cannot use his position for his own benefit.
