Q: My father recently passed away in Tennessee and had a Tennessee will. His three daughters were in will, one being the
executor. The executor distributed cash assets that were in our father's safe to us but gave us no information on what remaining assets, such as what was in his checking account remain. Are we as the two remaining beneficiaries entitled to that information and whatever was left in the checking account?
A:
Yes, the non-executor beneficiaries under the will are certainly entitled to a copy of the will and an accounting for the estate. Normally this is done via a full probate administration, but sometimes other methods are used, such as a small estate administration. First, you should check with the probate court in the county in which your father passed to see if a probate of any kind has been opened. If it has, you should drop into the probate court clerk's office and ask to review the file and maybe make copies.
Most likely a probate has not been opened, in which case it is possible that the named executor is not doing her job. You can hire an attorney to petition the probate court to appoint one of you as executor on the grounds that the named executor is not doing her job.
Shanone Emmack agrees with this answer
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