What To Do If The Executor Doesn’t Give You Your Inheritance As A Beneficiary

If you are a beneficiary in a deceased loved one’s Will, the executor of your loved one’s Will is required to give you your inheritance. The executor is required to distribute your deceased loved one’s assets according to your loved one’s wishes. So, what happens if the executor doesn’t give you your inheritance as a beneficiary? It depends. If the executor of your loved one’s Will refuses to provide you with your inheritance as a beneficiary, you may have options. However, if your loved one died with a lot of debts, you may have no choice but to accept that you can’t receive any inheritance.

Who Is an Executor?

An executor is a person (or sometimes entity) nominated by a deceased individual in a Will to administer that individual’s estate as directed by the Will. After a California probate court officially appoints an executor, the executor begins managing the decedent’s estate for the benefit of the beneficiaries.

Typical duties of an estate executor include, among many others, the following;

• Filing legal documents as part of the probate process
• Locating all estate assets and taking care of them
• Paying the necessary expenses to maintain the assets
• Paying ongoing expenses
• Paying taxes
• Paying debts
• Locating beneficiaries
• Distributing assets to beneficiaries

If you are a beneficiary in your deceased loved one’s Will, you have likely been looking forward to the executor getting to the part where they distribute assets to you and other beneficiaries (if there are any). Since you lost your loved one, you have likely been looking forward to inheriting the item(s) they left for you, so you can have something that will always remind you of them. It can be frustrating when it seems as though the executor doesn’t want to give you your inheritance.

What To Do if the Executor of Your Loved One’s Will Does Not Give You Your Inheritance

As already mentioned, if your loved one died with many debts, you may have no option but to accept that you cannot receive any inheritance. When a person dies with many debts, it means that the executor has to sell estate assets so they can repay the debts. If the executor of your loved one’s Will sold the items you were meant to receive to repay your loved one’s debts, then you cannot expect to receive anything.

However, you may have options if the executor refuses to give you your inheritance. This situation involves mismanagement, and an executor is prohibited from mismanaging the estate they are administering. If the executor is mismanaging the estate by refusing to distribute assets as your loved one instructed in their Will, the following are some of the steps you can take;

• File a petition with the probate court to have the executor removed
• File a lawsuit to obtain your inheritance from the executor
• Report the executor for contempt of court

Contact The Probate Guy for Help

If the person acting as the executor of your deceased loved one’s estate is refusing to give you your inheritance, you need to contact a probate attorney for legal help. Call the dedicated California probate attorney, Robert L. Cohen – The Probate Guy- to schedule a telephonic consultation.

Resource:

leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=PROB&division=7.&title=&part=2.&chapter=4.&article=6