Executors Duties

As soon as the executor is notified there is going to be a challenge to the validity of the Will he or she must notify the beneficiaries the there is going to be a delay until the proceedings are over.

It is the executor’s duty to uphold the Will and to defend the challenge proceedings. The executor cannot challenge the will himself or herself. If the executor wanted to challenge the validity of the Will he or she has to renounce their position of executor and then some other person (probably a major beneficiary) would defend the challenge.

Normally the first duty of an executor is to make an application to the court for a grant of probate in his or her favour. However a challenge is actually a process of stopping that application (grant of probate) and the executor’s duties are virtually put on hold unless the parties agree to some urgent or interim grant.

When the court finally makes a determination it actually makes a grant of probate (or not) in favour of the executor and he or she then commences to administer the estate as if there had never been a challenge.