The will has been read, and one of you is the executor. Within a week someone asks whether the house can just be sold, or whether the executor can take Mom’s furniture, or decide that one sibling gets the truck. Those questions are usually the start of the worry every family has, that settling the estate will be the thing the kids fight about.
So what can an executor do? In both Missouri and Arkansas the law calls the executor a personal representative, and the job is to gather, protect, pay and hand out someone else’s property the way the will and state law say. An executor doesn’t get to rewrite the plan or treat the property as their own. Missouri adds a twist: whether the estate runs under independent or supervised administration changes which steps need a judge’s approval.
Below, each question families ask is answered for Missouri and Arkansas separately, with links to our deeper guides on pay, liability, selling the house and personal belongings.
Being named in the will doesn’t make someone the executor. The court’s appointment does.
In Missouri, whether a judge has to approve a sale depends on whether the estate is independent or supervised. The letters say which.
Beneficiaries don’t vote on selling the house. They get notice, a chance to object, or a way to ask the judge to step in.
In Missouri, an executor can’t buy estate property unless the people inheriting agree in writing and that agreement is filed. Arkansas is stricter: only at a court-approved public sale, and only for close family or a co-owner.
An executor can move belongings to keep them safe, but can’t keep them. The will, state law and the court decide who gets what.
Beneficiaries are entitled to an accounting in both states. If they’re worried, the law gives them steps to take, starting small.
Named in the will is not the same as appointed by the court
The will nominates an executor. The court appoints one. Until a judge acts, the person named in the will doesn’t have the authority to run the estate.
In Missouri, the probate court issues letters testamentary, the court paper that confirms who the executor is, to the person the will names. If that person is found unsuitable or disqualified, or simply doesn’t apply, Missouri law sends the letters to someone else. When there’s no will, the court issues letters of administration instead, starting with the surviving spouse and then the people entitled to inherit. Dying without a will is called intestacy, and it means state law, not the family, decides who inherits.
Arkansas says it even more plainly. Its statute explains that letters aren’t what gives the power: the court’s order appointing the representative empowers them to act for the estate, and the letters let banks and everyone else know.
Exactly when a Missouri executor can start acting is a good first question for the attorney who opens the estate. If you’ve just been named, start by keeping things safe and holding off on spending or handing anything out. Our executor checklist walks through the first steps once you’re appointed.
In Missouri, the answer usually depends on independent or supervised administration
In Missouri, the same question, “can she sell the house?”, has two different correct answers. Which one applies depends on how the estate is being run, and the letters say which.
Supervised administration means the court oversees the estate, and many big steps need a judge’s order. To sell a house, the executor files a petition, the family gets notice, and there’s a hearing. The executor also files a statement of accounts with the court every year.
Independent administration means the executor settles and distributes the estate “without adjudication, order, or direction of the court” except where the statutes say otherwise. An independent executor can still ask the court to settle a question when one comes up.
An estate lands on the independent track when the will authorizes it, or when everyone with a stake agrees and the will doesn’t forbid it. With a will, that means all the beneficiaries. Without one, it means all the heirs, and if a will covers only part of the estate, both groups. A will that says the estate must be court-supervised has to be followed. The law’s word for everyone with a legal stake, such as an heir or a beneficiary, is interested person.
Independent isn’t permanent. Even the newspaper notice for an independent estate says it runs without court orders unless someone asks for supervision and the court grants it.
One rule is easy to miss. An independent executor who isn’t a Missouri lawyer must get an attorney’s advice and services on a list of nine legal matters, including transferring estate property, interpreting the will, making distribution and closing the estate (RSMo 473.787).
Step
Independent administration
Supervised administration
Selling the house
No court order needed, unless the will restricts it
Through the court: petition, notice to heirs and beneficiaries, hearing, then court approval of the sale
Selling a car or furniture
No court order needed, unless the will restricts it
Through the court: a privately arranged sale needs the court’s approval before or after
Reporting
Statement of account mailed to interested persons before closing
Statement of accounts filed with the court every year, or as the court directs
The independent column comes from RSMo 473.810, the supervised column from RSMo 473.493, 473.487 and 473.540. Your letters say which track your estate is on. In either track, if the will gives the executor a power of sale, the executor may be able to sell under that power instead of through the court, as explained below.
Arkansas’s probate code is organized differently. The Arkansas answers below come straight from its sections on court-ordered sales, possession of property and accounts. If anyone tells you an Arkansas estate can skip the court for a particular step, ask the attorney which statute allows it. Our guide to how formal and informal probate work covers the two tracks in more depth.
What an executor can do: gather, protect, pay and distribute
Unless the will restricts it, an independent executor in Missouri, acting reasonably for the people who’ll inherit, may do things like these:
Keep the estate’s assets, make ordinary repairs and insure property
Pay taxes and the executor’s own compensation
Hire attorneys and appraisers
Sue, defend lawsuits and settle with people who owe the estate
Keep the person’s unincorporated business running for up to four months after appointment, when that helps preserve its value
Sell, mortgage or lease property
Pay valid claims and hand out what’s left as the law provides
Executors also take charge of the property. A Missouri independent executor takes possession or control of the person’s property, but may leave the house and personal belongings with the person who’s expected to inherit them until the executor needs them for the estate. In a supervised estate, the executor takes the personal property, except property set aside for a surviving spouse and minor children, and takes the real estate only when the court orders it. In Arkansas, the executor takes possession of the personal property, subject to the surviving spouse’s rights and the family allowances, but real estate becomes the executor’s to manage only when the will says so or the court decides it should be sold, mortgaged, leased or exchanged.
The paperwork starts early. In Missouri, an independent executor files an inventory within thirty days of appointment and sends a copy to interested persons who ask for one. On the federal side, the estate gets its own tax number with Form SS-4, and Form 56 tells the IRS who the executor is.
Bills come next. We cover paying funeral costs before probate and what happens to the person’s bank accounts in separate guides.
Every power on that list is a power to act on the estate’s behalf, and that’s where the next questions come from.
Can an executor sell the house without every beneficiary agreeing?
Beneficiaries don’t vote on it. In the Missouri and Arkansas statutes that govern sales, the decision runs through the will, the executor and the court. What beneficiaries get is notice, a chance to object, or a way to ask the judge to step in, depending on the state, the track and the will.
The executor may sell, mortgage or lease estate property without a court order unless the will restricts it (RSMo 473.810). The family’s protection is the court. Any interested person can ask a judge to temporarily stop a specific act, with a hearing within ten days unless everyone agrees otherwise. They can also ask the court to end independent administration.
Estate property may be sold under court order when necessary to pay claims, pay a gift in the will, protect assets, make distribution, or for another purpose in the estate’s best interest. The executor petitions, and the court holds a hearing. Interested persons get notice, unless the interest being sold is worth $10,000 or less, in which case the court may hear the petition without notice. A report follows within ten days, and the court confirms the sale only if the price and terms were advantageous to the estate. A will’s power of sale is another route.
Two Arkansas details protect families. When the court is asked to order a sale to pay the estate’s obligations, an interested person can block that order by posting a bond the court approves that protects everyone’s rights (Ark. Code 28-51-103). And a home that is still the homestead of the surviving spouse or minor children can’t be sold to pay the person’s debts.
The full process, from listing to closing, is in our guide to selling a house during probate. If you’re a beneficiary and you object to a sale, the way to be heard is a petition to the court.
Can an executor sell estate property to themselves?
You may read online that nothing stops an executor from buying estate property. That isn’t how the Missouri or Arkansas statutes read. (The people entitled to receive part of the estate are called distributees.)
Missouri’s statute is short: “No executor or administrator shall purchase any property belonging to the estate which is sold either at public or private sale, unless written consent thereto is filed by the distributees.” In plain words, the executor doesn’t buy unless the people inheriting agree in writing and that agreement is filed. In a court-ordered real estate sale, the executor’s report must also swear that the executor didn’t buy the property directly or indirectly, unless that written consent is on file.
That rule sits in the part of Missouri’s code about court-ordered sales. How it applies when an independent executor sells is a question for the estate’s attorney before any offer is made.
Arkansas is stricter. An executor can’t buy estate property unless it’s sold at public sale and approved by the court after a hearing with notice to the distributees. Even then, the executor has to be the person’s spouse, parent, child or other descendant, brother or sister, or someone who co-owned the property both when the person died and at the sale. Arkansas also makes an executor answerable for losses caused by self-dealing.
If you’re the executor and you’d like to buy the house, raise it with the family and the attorney before anything is listed. That way the consent or the court step happens in the open.
Can an executor remove items from the house?
It depends on why. Removing things to protect them for the estate is part of the job. Removing them to keep is something else.
A Missouri independent executor has the right and the duty to take control of the person’s property, and may leave belongings with the person expected to inherit them until they’re needed. The executor must also take reasonable steps to protect and preserve the estate (RSMo 473.803). In a supervised estate, the executor takes the personal property, and a privately arranged sale of it isn’t valid without the court’s approval before or after. In Arkansas, the executor takes possession of the personal property, subject to the surviving spouse’s rights and the family allowances (Ark. Code 28-49-101).
Using or keeping estate property for yourself is where trouble starts. Missouri courts can take the job away from an executor who wastes or mismanages the estate. Arkansas holds an executor responsible for losses from self-dealing or mixing estate property with their own (Ark. Code 28-52-101).
Handing out keepsakes early can count as distributing the estate before it’s ready; our guide covers what can and can’t leave the house before probate. Moving Dad’s guns to a locked safe protects the estate. Taking his watch home because he promised it to you is a decision the will and the court make, not the executor.
Can an executor decide who gets what or change the will?
No. In Missouri, the court’s final order names who receives what and in what shares, “under the will and the provisions of this law,” and that order is conclusive unless it’s appealed or reopened. Even in an independent estate, the executor’s closing statement has to show the family a schedule of who gets what before it’s filed.
When there’s no will, Missouri’s intestacy law decides, starting with the surviving spouse and the person’s descendants in shares the statute sets. A particular will can give the executor some choices, such as a power of sale, which is why the attorney reads the will itself.
In Arkansas, the executor carries out the will and Arkansas law under the court’s supervision. Real estate isn’t the executor’s to hand out unless it’s being sold, mortgaged, leased or exchanged (Ark. Code 28-49-101).
An executor can’t change the will. Someone who believes the will isn’t valid files a will contest. In Missouri the petition is due within six months after the will is admitted or rejected, or six months after the first published notice of letters, whichever is later. Our guide to contesting a will in Missouri and Arkansas covers the Arkansas side and the grounds.
One client wrote this about the plan their family made:
“Chris has handled our estate for over 15 years and both of my parents are now passed. The structure he placed us under proved to be worthy and we experienced no difficulties. It helped maintain family peace and provided a vehicle for the heirs to wind up with what they wanted. The continuing business of the farm and families involved is with him and we are very satisfied. I am comfortable to refer him and his firm to all.” (Ray T.)
Every family and every estate is different, and one client’s experience doesn’t promise the same result for another. The executor’s job is to follow the plan, not to write it.
Does an executor have to show beneficiaries an accounting?
Months in, nobody has shown you a single number, and you’re not sure you’re allowed to ask. You are. An accounting is a written record of everything the estate took in, paid out and still holds, and both states require one.
Missouri, independent administration
The inventory goes to interested persons who ask for it (RSMo 473.793). To finish, the executor mails each interested person a statement of account showing money in and out, claims and taxes paid, and who gets what. Objections are due within twenty days after the statement is filed, and an objection leads to a hearing where receipts and an audit can be required. Unless the court extends the time, the executor must ask the court for complete settlement or file the statement of account within one year of appointment, and an interested person can ask the court to order it.
The executor files a verified account with the court every year unless the court directs otherwise, at final settlement, and whenever the court directs on its own or because an interested person asked. If an account is late, the clerk issues a citation giving the executor thirty days. The clerk publishes a monthly notice of accounts filed, and objections are due within sixty days after filing or the right to object is lost.
After the final accounting, the remaining property is distributed and the executor asks to be discharged. Our guide explains what happens after probate is closed. If you’re a beneficiary of a Missouri independent estate and haven’t seen the inventory, ask the executor for it in writing.
What beneficiaries can do if they’re worried
The law gives a worried beneficiary a ladder of steps, smallest first. In Missouri:
In an independent estate, ask the executor for the inventory (RSMo 473.793).
If an independent estate has gone a year without the executor asking for settlement or filing the statement of account, ask the court to order it (RSMo 473.843).
Ask the court to temporarily stop one specific act, such as a sale (RSMo 473.830).
Ask the court to end independent administration. If the executor’s actions caused a loss, the court can also remove them and enter a judgment against them (RSMo 473.833).
Ask the court to remove the executor for reasons including failing to do the job or wasting or mismanaging the estate (RSMo 473.140).
In Arkansas, the court may order an executor to explain why they shouldn’t be removed, and must do so when an interested person petitions, on grounds including mismanagement or failing a legal duty. Removal doesn’t undo the official acts they already took. An interested person can also ask the court to make the executor explain why specific property shouldn’t be sold (Ark. Code 28-51-103).
Our guide covers what an executor can be personally responsible for. Most of these steps are court filings, so talk with an attorney about whether one fits. A request to stop one act fits a single sale you’re worried about. A request to remove the executor fits when one of the grounds in the statute, such as mismanagement, is present.
If you’re the one writing the will
Most people name an executor in about four seconds. They pick the oldest child, or the one who lives closest, and move on. I slow that down, because being executor is a job, not an honor. The executor files the will with the court, opens an estate account, tracks down every asset, notifies creditors, pays the final bills and tax returns, and accounts for all of it to the family and to a judge. It can run a year or more, and the executor can be held personally responsible if they get parts of it wrong. So I ask who’s organized, who has the time, and who the family will still be speaking to when it’s over.
The will also shapes how much of this needs a judge. It can give the executor a power of sale in both states, and in Missouri it can authorize independent administration or forbid it.
If you’re serving as an executor and want a second set of eyes, or you’re planning your own estate and want to choose your executor with your family in mind, our offices in Joplin, Springfield and Bentonville are a phone call or a short form away.
Frequently asked questions
Is an executor the same as a personal representative?
Yes. “Personal representative” is the term the statutes use in both Missouri and Arkansas. In Missouri, when there’s a will, the court issues letters testamentary to the executor it names. When there isn’t one, letters of administration go first to the surviving spouse, then to the people entitled to inherit, and that person is sometimes called an administrator.
Does an executor need a lawyer in Missouri?
In an independent estate, yes, for certain things. An executor who isn’t a Missouri lawyer must get an attorney’s advice and services on listed legal matters such as transferring property, interpreting the will, making distribution and closing the estate (RSMo 473.787). For supervised estates and Arkansas estates, ask the court or an attorney what applies.
Can an executor pay themselves?
Yes. An executor is entitled to compensation, set by statute and reviewed by the court. In a Missouri independent estate, pay is reasonable compensation with the statutory schedule as the minimum, and going above it needs court authorization. In Arkansas, it’s what the court finds just and reasonable, generally capped by a schedule (Ark. Code 28-48-108). Our guide to how much executors can charge has the numbers.
When can an executor hand out the inheritance?
It depends on the creditor period and the court. In Missouri, creditors generally have six months from the first published notice to file claims, and an independent executor can begin closing the estate with the statement of account after six months and ten days from that notice. An executor can’t be forced to distribute until six months after the letters. Whether an earlier, partial distribution is possible, and Arkansas timing, are questions for the attorney handling the estate.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements. The first-person story in “If you’re the one writing the will” is an illustrative composite drawn from common situations; it does not describe a specific client. The client testimonial reflects one family’s experience and does not promise any particular result. This article is attorney advertising and shares general information only, not legal advice. Reading it or contacting our office does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every situation is different, so talk with a licensed attorney about yours.
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