Q: What do i do to object to my brother trying to become my dead dad's personal rep.
His son is already dad's personal rep.. Dad told him he didn't want him to be his rep. And dad said another nephew would be acceptable. I got court papers from utah.
A:
In Colorado, the most common ways to be personal representative ("PR") for the estate of someone that passed away are (1) to be nominated as PR in the will, or (2) to be a relative of the deceased person who applies to be PR.
In the first method, the will might name a PR and might even name one or more back-up PRs. A named person simply has to submit papers to the court to have the court agree with the terms of the will. Subsequently, that person is given paperwork from the court officially naming them the PR.
In the second method, Colorado courts are not very picky about what kind of relative might be a PR for a person with no will at the time of death. Cousins, nephews, grandparents, even banks that loan money to the deceased person can all request to be the PR.
Once a PR is recognized by the court, there is still a process to remove a PR that is doing a bad job or should not have been nominated. The PR to be removed might be stealing money from the estate, disobeying a court order, sending out false information, or merely not doing the job of settling the estate quickly enough. The new PR might have a way to prove to the court that the old PR was acting against the interests of the estate. But any PR that is doing the job with reasonable speed and professionalism has a good claim to keep that role in the absence of a valid will. A court hearing is needed to decide is an existing PR will be replaced.
Colorado Revised Statutes § 15-10-503 has more details. That code section, along with other code sections and certain court forms (called JDF forms) can begin the petition for the removal of a PR.
The above description is generally applicable and not intended to be advice for your specific situation. Reach out to a Colorado estate planning attorney for help starting the PR removal process.
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