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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It is far better for them to be co-executors. They can share the work involved and they can both have full access to all financial and legal documents. It’s also good to have checks and balances, with two sets of eyes on everything.

Don’t do what one of my relatives did. She took her parents to have a low cost will made and emerged from the office as sole executor. When her parents died, she hoarded information and refused to answer any of her siblings’ questions about the estate.

Eventually they had to take her to court. It turned out she was selling personal property and pocketing the profits, keeping no records or receipts. She also stole thousands of dollars of cash that her elderly parents had kept around the house. She was heavily fined by the court and had to repay her siblings for all she had stolen. She also could have been criminally charged, but her siblings were too nice (in my opinion) and decided not to press charges.

So, definitely, better to have co-executors from the beginning to keep everyone on the same page. 
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Just out of curiousity (and I am one of the full disclosure PPs), why do you think your relative did this? Was her net worth lower than her siblings, did she have a lot of debt, etc? On another tack, did she take disproportionate care for the parents yet it was not compensated/recognized?

I never ceased to be surprised when folks do this, including what seems like a mistaken belief that they will not be caught.

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You know, I’m really not sure why she did it. Two of the siblings probably have far lower net worth than she does. I don’t really know about debt or what her expenses were like and she did not do much to take care of her parents.

It was surprising to the whole extended family when we found out about it. I still don’t get it. Possibly the idea of acquiring some extra money in a way that you think can never be tracked down is just too tempting for some people. I think she had always resented one of the siblings, so maybe there was an element of thinking she’d pulled one over on that sibling that she got some satisfaction from. As family, we have discussed and speculated as to why she would have done this.

I think she was really surprised when the other siblings got a lawyer and started asking questions that she didn’t have good answers for. She assumed they wouldn’t question her at all and thought she would get away with it. 
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