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How To Get Rid Of A Really Bad Executor, in Pennsylvania

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  • 02-18-2008, 04:09 PM
    PleaseHelpMeInPA
    How To Get Rid Of A Really Bad Executor, in Pennsylvania
    I am one of two beneficiaries of my grandmother’s estate (50/50 split). The other beneficiary persuaded my grandmother to change her will a few weeks before she died (which happened on Saturday), naming him as the executor (previously it had been her attorney). He also managed to get her financial power of attorney. The day he got the power of attorney (grandmother still living but had turned over her finances to him), he liquidated all of my grandmother’s securities and bonds and had the money transferred into her checking account, on which he is a co-signer.

    This guy is as slimy as they come and only a mother’s love would be blinding enough for someone to trust him with her finances. He’s had countless judgments against him in business dealings, including years of IRS tax liens. We have asked him to voluntarily step down as executor and restore the attorney as executor, for the sake of preserving family relationships. Unsurprisingly, he emphatically refused.

    It is obvious that he transferred the funds so that he can have immediate access to them and as a joint account holder on the checking account; I assume he is trying to make sure that this money is not counted as part of the estate (therefore not to be shared and he can spend it freely as an account owner).

    We will be contacting a lawyer of our own immediately, but in preparation for that we’re trying to organize our questions and strategy. Any feedback on the following would be greatly appreciated:
    -How hard is it to have someone disqualified as an executor?
    -How hard is it to find out what’s happening in that checking account now?
    -Should we focus on what he’s done with the money since getting the power of attorney, or on his lifetime of financial misdealing in building our case? The latter is easily documented, but we’re worried that if we wait around until he blatantly missteps in the current situation, there won’t be anything left to protect.
    -What would be the focus of our discussion when we meet with our lawyer?

    Thank you in advance for your advice.
  • 02-18-2008, 04:16 PM
    gigirle
    Re: Pennsylvania (PA): Really Bad Choice For Executor---how Do We Get Rid Of Him?
    Since your grandmother is still alive, is she willing to put a 3rd person on this checking account? Is she involved with this at all? Is she in her right mind?

    Ask your lawyer if he can file for guardianship of grandma. If you can show his "mishandling" the court does not look kindly on this.
    Take gee-maw on a sunday drive to the bank, she can give permission for you to look at all bank records.
    You can also talk gee-maw into giving away her things now while she is alive so she can see her loved ones enjoy it. This will really put a crimp in his plan to spend her money. I hate slimey people.
  • 02-18-2008, 04:26 PM
    PleaseHelpMeInPA
    Re: Pennsylvania (PA): Really Bad Choice For Executor---how Do We Get Rid Of Him?
    Ooops, I forgot to mention that my grandmother died on Saturday. I didn't know about the liquidation of her securities until after she died and we looked at her account statements.

    Your suggestions are great and I very much wish we had been more insistent with her when she was alive. She got so upset when anything negative was said about her son and we didn't want to upset her.

    I had talked to her about her choice when she was alive and she kept saying that he was the best choice for executor because he "understood all the details of my health condition and what I'd want done". I explained over and over that an executor has no involvement in these decisions as she'd be dead already when his role began. I really don't know if she understood what an executor was, but in a moment of apparent clarity, she quietly told me that she was afraid of changing it because she was afraid of how he'd respond. That kind of says it all, doesn't it?
  • 02-18-2008, 04:40 PM
    aaron
    Re: Pennsylvania (PA): Really Bad Choice For Executor---how Do We Get Rid Of Him?
    Has he actually opened an estate and been appointed as executor?
  • 02-18-2008, 04:43 PM
    PleaseHelpMeInPA
    Re: How To Get Rid Of A Really Bad Executor, in Pennsylvania
    I'm not sure what that means; all that's happened so far is she died and her latest will specifies that she wants him to be the executor.
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