Estate Administration. Alma Zeigler, a resident of Georgia, died ...

[james9437]

Estate Administration. Alma Zeigler, a resident of Georgia, died in June 2001. Zeigler's will named as executor her granddaughter, Stacey Hatchett. Hatchett, who was teaching and attending graduate school in Illinois, filed a petition to probate the will in a Georgia state court, which confirmed her as executor in January 2002. The estate's main asset was a brick, three-bedroom house in Savannah. Hatchett sold the house for 65,000, without obtaining an ap-praisal, and deposited the proceeds in her personal account. Meanwhile, Zeigler's adopted son took the furnishings from the house and placed them in storage. As of August 2003, Hatchett had not inventoried these items, did not know their location, and knew only that the son lived somewhere in Florida. Also unaccounted for was a diamond ring that had been on Zeigler's finger at the time of her death and a van that Zeigler had owned. Rita Williams, to whom the will devised certain real property, filed a petition with the court, asking that Hatchett, who had not been in Georgia since filing the petition to probate the will, be removed as executor. What are the duties of an executor, or personal representative? Did Hatchett violate these duties? Ex-plain.

Question 2

Which of the following types of drug tests is required by the Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act:
 a. preemployment testing
  b. random testing during employment c. testing after any accident
  d. all of the other specific choices are correct
  e. none of the other specific choices are correct

[beccamahon]

Answer to Question 1

Estate administration
An executor is a fiduciary with a duty to settle an estate as quickly and with as little loss of its value as is reasonable in the circumstances. In this case, Hatchett did not appear to responsibly take control of the assets of Zeigler's estate. Among other things, she sold Zeigler's home without obtaining an appraisal or attempting to realize the best price. She co-mingled some of the estate funds (the proceeds from the sale of the house) with her personal funds. She allowed the removal of the furnishings from Zeigler's house to an undisclosed location, and made no effort either to recover the missing diamond ring or to locate the missing van. A court has the discretion to remove an executor for violating his or her duties. Here, the court should probably remove Hatchett as executor.

Answer to Question 2

d