executor
Section 2(c) of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 defines an executor as a person to whom the execution of the last will of a deceased person is, by the testator's appointment, confided. The appointment may be express or implied. A female executor was traditionally called an executrix.
The estate vests in the executor as the deceased's legal representative (s.211). Where the Act requires it, the executor obtains probate, which is the court's certified copy of the will with a grant of administration (s.2(f)); for wills covered by s.57, no right as executor can be established without probate (s.213). An administrator, by contrast, is appointed by the court when there is no executor. The executor must pay debts, then legacies, and account for the estate.
Example
The will named her brother as executor, so he, not the court, administers the estate once probate is granted.
In Indian law
- Sections 2(c), 2(f), 211 and 213, Indian Succession Act, 1925
See also
donatio mortis causa · execution of deed
Read more in the study notes
- Bank: definition, kinds of banks and their functions (Banking Law)
- Rights of a banker: lien, set-off, appropriation and charges (Banking Law)
- Kinds of accounts, opening an account, and special classes of customers (Banking Law)
- Criminal misappropriation and criminal breach of trust (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita)
- Admissions: definition, persons whose admissions are relevant, and evidentiary value (Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam)
- Parties to suits, joinder of causes of action and multifariousness (Orders I and II) (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)