I disagree with the executor's accounting - now what?

I hear a lot of questions from both executors and beneficiaries about the process of reviewing an executor's accounts and signing a Release. I recently received the following letter from a reader, which echoes what many others of you have asked:
"Can you tell me what happens if all heirs do not agree with the statement of accounts? Who looks at that and would the person(s) be contacted regarding why they do not agree with a statment of accounts? I disagreed with the stmt of accounts over a year ago and nothing has happened with the will since. The executor is not co-operative."

The beneficiaries of an estate are given the statement of accounts along with a Release. If all looks fine with the accounts, the beneficiaries sign the Releases and return them to the executor. Once all Releases have been received, the executor pays out the distribution that was outlined in the statement of accounts. The purpose of all of this is to get the beneficiaries to state that they approve of what the executor has done with the estate so far. This indemnifies the executor.

You asked who looks at the fact that a beneficiary doesn't agree with the accounting. This would be the executor. If the executor is using a lawyer to help with the estate, no doubt the executor would consult with the lawyer as to what to do next.

If the executor is trying to do the estate without the help of a lawyer and prepared the accounts without help from a lawyer or accountant, he or she may have no idea what to do now that a beneficiary has disagreed with the accounting. The next logical step from a legal point of view is for the executor to apply to the court to have the accounts passed by the court, but I would hope that before spending the time and money to do that, the executor would try to find out what the problem is, and rectify it.

Beneficiaries have the right to ask for more information on an accounting if something is unclear, or to ask about items that appear to have been omitted. And if the whole thing just seems out of whack, the beneficiary has the right to refuse to sign the Release.

Unfortunately, our system is based on the premise that an executor will want to take care of the estate properly and will make every effort to move the estate along as best he can. As it happens, plenty of executors don't really care if the estate drags on for years, as they aren't the ones waiting for an inheritance. Therefore, even if the executor is aware of the next steps, he or she may not wish to proceed without prodding.

You need to write a letter. If the accounting was sent to you by a lawyer, write to the lawyer, otherwise write directly to the executor. State your objections to the accounting, giving facts or figures if at all possible. Saying something like "I just don't like what you did"  or "I think you're hiding something" isn't useful and won't bring anything to a conclusion. You should be able to specifically refer to an item or a figure, and state, for example, "Mom's house was listed for $450,000 but the accounting only shows $325,000 going into the bank. What happened to the rest?"

Your responsibility to the procedure is to police the executor's actions, but keep in mind that the executor is human and can make mistakes. Give him or her the chance to explain the numbers in the accounting. Realize that most of us have never provided an accounting for anything in our lives and perhaps aren't that good at it, so your detailed questions should allow the executor to understand what is required. Don't nit-pick for the sake of nit-picking, and try to stick to real issues.

Refer to the fact that the accounting was provided a year ago, and that you want the matter cleared up.

If you receive satisfactory answers to your questions, you should sign the Release and return it to the executor. As you've said that the executor isn't co-operative, I don't expect this to happen, but perhaps after a year he or she is more motivated to wrap it up. Don't sit and wait any longer; there is a common law concept of the executor's year that says an estate without legal complications should be wrapped up in a year, and obviously the executor has exceeded that.

If the executor simply won't move on it, you will likely have to hire a lawyer to help you resolve it or push it through court. Perhaps the other beneficiaries would pool their resources with you since everyone would stand to benefit.