Can the executor not sell a house that is in a living trust willed to three people other than themselves?

Answer 1

This question has so many mixed and conflicting terms, that it is difficult to even understand the question, much less provide an answer. This answer will assume the probable situation that creates this question. I assume that the "property" that has been "willed" to 3 people is part of a living trust created by the decedent during his lifetime. If the decedent transferred this property to a living trust, the executor has no power at all to sell it. This is because the executor has power over property belonging to the decedent. This property is owned by the living trust, therefore, beyond the authority of the executor. Once the decedent transferred the property to the trust, the trust became the legal owner just as if the decedent had transferred the property to another person. Since the decedent no longer owns the property, he has no more power to "will" that property to anyone than I have to will your property to someone. Unless the trust provides that upon his death the property goes into his own estate the executor is powerless to sell to anyone. But this would be extremely unlikely, because the purpose of the living trust is to keep that property out of the decedent's estate.