My uncle was the executor of my grandfathers will. He gave away several of my grandfathers vehicles to friends, which was not a part of the ...

Question

My uncle was the executor of my grandfathers will. He gave away several of my grandfathers vehicles to friends, which was not a part of the will. In the will all assets should have been liquidated and distributed to the heirs. It seems easy to prove that this happened by looking into the records for these vehicles. If this is true did he commit a crime?

Answer

Maybe a crime, but that could only be determined by the county district attorney. The executor certainly did commit waste of the estate assets by giving the vehicles away to persons other than the heirs of the estate and can be sued to recover the value of the vehicles, as he did not follow the terms of the will and turn assets into cash for dtribution to the heirs per the provisions of the will.