Belligerent Beneficiary Essay

Having to confront a belligerent beneficiary is an awful position for an executor. Unfortunately for executors, beneficiaries have rights to an estate that executors must respect. (Refer to the article Know your Beneficiaries to review beneficiary rights.) So, an executor must try to handle a belligerent beneficiary as described in the article How to Handle a Belligerent Beneficiary. Conversely, if all efforts fail to appease the belligerent beneficiary, the executor has to take action to move the estate forward.

The Right Time to Confront a Belligerent Beneficiary

If you are an executor dealing with a belligerent beneficiary, there isn’t a right time to confront a belligerent beneficiary. In fact, confrontation should only be used as a …show more content…
The beneficiary started out as demanding and turned belligerent later on for a variety of reasons. Finally, after the holidays in 2013, the belligerent beneficiary contacted me to ask if I was ready to layout the reserved personal possessions for inspection and selection. At this point, I had no time to deal with the issue, so I told the belligerent beneficiary I would deal with the possessions after I relocate the tenants, file the final taxes, and put the rental property on the market. Immediately, after that call, I knew this harassment had to come to an end in order to close this estate, but I put it off until the rental property was on the market. Fortunately, the rental property sold in May 2013. After the sale, it was time to conclude business with the belligerent beneficiary. As described in the article Moving the Personal Possessions Reserved for the Belligerent Beneficiary off the Estate, a confrontation did occur. However, the belligerent beneficiary did eventually quiet down and the personal possessions were finally removed from the estate. So, after months of taking harassment and bullying, it all came to an end after the confrontation and the estate closed smoothly from that