In Nevada, as is the case in other states, a court will appoint a person, called an executor or personal representative, to oversee an the administration of an estate.
Basically, the executor is supposed to collect all of the property of the person who died, or at least the property that is going to be dealt with through the estate. The executor then pays off all of the deceased person’s legitimate debts and distributes the balance according to the terms of the will or, if there is no will, according to Nevada law.
When things are going well, an executor can do his or her difficult job without much notice. However, not all estates proceed smoothly from a person’s death to the ultimate distribution of the property. When this happens, there can be probate litigation in which family members or other interested parties ask the court to remove the executor, if even if he or she was nominated in the will, and replace the executor with someone else.
In Nevada, a court overseeing an estate can order a personal representative suspended from his or her duties and will often do so if someone brings issues with the personal representative’s conduct to the court’s attention.
Among other things, if a personal representative has either misappropriated the estate’s funds or has mismanaged them, he or she faces s suspension. Even an unexplained delay in administering the state can be grounds for suspending the personal representative.
After a personal representative gets suspended, the court will have a hearing during which interested parties can ask for the personal representative to be removed and replaced. Actually making this argument to a court, however, can be difficult and may require the help of an experienced probate attorney in the Las Vegas area.