When an Executor Won’t Do Their Job: Removing an Executor in Tennessee

When You Suspect the Person in Charge of the Estate

The estate has been open for a year. You have not seen an accounting. Your calls go unanswered. Property is sitting unsold, bills are going unpaid, and you are starting to wonder whether the person running the estate is incompetent, dishonest, or both.

An executor in Tennessee holds a position of legal trust. They are required to act in the interest of the estate and its beneficiaries, not in their own interest. When an executor stops communicating, mishandles money, delays without reason, or treats estate assets as their own, Tennessee law gives beneficiaries and heirs the right to act.

Higgins Estate Group handles executor removal and fiduciary misconduct cases across Middle Tennessee. If you believe the person administering an estate is failing in their duties, here is what you need to know.

What Counts as Executor Misconduct in Tennessee?

An executor (or administrator, when there is no will) owes a fiduciary duty to the estate. That duty is the highest standard of responsibility the law recognizes. Misconduct is any breach of that duty, whether through dishonesty, neglect, or self-dealing.

Common forms of executor misconduct in Tennessee include:

• Using estate funds for personal expenses or mixing estate money with personal accounts
• Selling estate property below market value, or selling it to themselves, a friend, or a relative
• Failing to file the inventory or accountings the court and beneficiaries are entitled to
• Refusing to communicate with beneficiaries or answer reasonable questions about the estate
• Unreasonable delay in administering or closing the estate with no valid explanation
• Paying themselves excessive fees
• Favoring one beneficiary over others
• Allowing estate assets to lose value through neglect, such as letting insurance lapse on real property

Not every mistake is misconduct. An executor who makes a reasonable, good-faith decision that does not work out has not necessarily breached anything. The question Tennessee courts ask is whether the executor acted honestly, reasonably, and in the interest of the estate.

Warning Signs an Executor Is Mismanaging an Estate

Families often sense something is wrong before they can prove it. These are the patterns that most often signal a problem:

• Silence. A competent executor keeps beneficiaries reasonably informed. Evasiveness or going quiet is the most common early sign.
• No inventory or accounting. Tennessee law generally requires an executor to account for estate assets. A refusal to produce records should raise serious questions.
• Unexplained delay. A typical estate administration runs roughly a year. Long delays with no explanation can indicate stalling or mismanagement.
• Money that does not add up. Withdrawals, transfers, or fees that the executor will not or cannot explain.
• Property decisions that benefit the executor. A sale to an insider, or a property held off the market while the executor lives in it rent-free.

If several of these are present at once, you may have grounds to act.

Grounds for Removing an Executor in Tennessee

Tennessee courts do not remove an executor simply because beneficiaries are unhappy. Removal is a court-supervised remedy that requires a legal basis supported by evidence. The grounds Tennessee courts recognize include:

• Breach of fiduciary duty, including self-dealing, mismanaging assets, or failing to communicate with beneficiaries
• Misappropriation or waste of estate assets
• Failure to perform required duties, such as filing the inventory, accountings, or tax returns
• Conflict of interest between the executor’s personal interests and their duties to the estate
• Incapacity or unsuitability, where the executor is unable to perform the role
• Any other good cause the court finds sufficient

The court has broad discretion. The stronger and better documented the misconduct, the stronger the case for removal.

How to Remove an Executor in Tennessee

Removing an executor follows a defined process in the probate court supervising the estate.

Step 1: Document the Problem

Before filing, the case has to be built on evidence, not frustration. That means gathering the accountings (or proof that none were filed), bank and financial records, communications, and any documentation of the specific decisions or transactions at issue. Beneficiaries have the right to request information about the estate, and a refusal to provide it is itself evidence.

Step 2: File a Petition for Removal

The process begins with a petition filed in the probate court overseeing the estate, generally the county where the estate is being administered. In Nashville, that is Davidson County Probate Court. The petition must state the grounds for removal and the facts supporting them.

Step 3: Notice and Hearing

The executor receives notice of the petition and the court sets a hearing. All interested parties have the opportunity to present evidence and arguments. In serious cases, the court can suspend the executor’s powers while the matter is pending, which protects the estate from further harm during the litigation.

Step 4: The Court’s Decision

If the court finds sufficient grounds, it can remove the executor and appoint a successor to administer the estate properly. Where the executor’s breach caused losses, the court can also order the removed executor to reimburse the estate and can hold them personally liable for the damage they caused. In cases involving theft, the conduct can carry consequences beyond the probate court.

Can You Recover Money an Executor Took?

Yes. Removal is not the only remedy. When an executor’s breach of fiduciary duty causes financial loss to the estate, Tennessee courts can order the executor to repay what was lost, surrender improper fees, and compensate the estate for waste or mismanagement. A removal action and a claim for damages are often pursued together. The goal is not only to replace the person in charge but to make the estate whole.

Why These Cases Require a Litigation Attorney

Removing an executor is contested litigation, not routine probate paperwork. The executor will usually fight removal, often using estate funds to pay for their own defense. These cases turn on building a documented factual record, taking depositions, obtaining financial records through discovery, and presenting evidence of breach to a probate judge.

The attorney who drafted the will or handles uncontested administration is frequently not the right person for a contested removal. This is a dispute, and it needs to be handled by attorneys who try these cases.

Higgins Estate Group focuses on contested estate and probate matters, including executor removal, will contests, inheritance disputes between siblings, and partition actions, across Middle Tennessee. Jim Higgins has practiced estate law in Tennessee since 1993, and the firm’s attorneys have handled executor removal actions in Davidson County and throughout Middle Tennessee. In our experience, the filing of a well-documented removal petition frequently changes the executor’s behavior on its own, because the realistic alternative is suddenly clear.

Frequently Asked Questions: Executor Misconduct in Tennessee

Talk to a Tennessee Executor Removal Attorney

If you believe the executor of an estate is mismanaging assets, stonewalling beneficiaries, or acting in their own interest instead of the estate’s, contact Higgins Estate Group. We handle executor removal and fiduciary misconduct cases across Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, and Wilson counties.

Consultations are free. The longer misconduct continues, the more an estate can lose. The sooner you act, the more options you have.

Last Updated: June 2026