Ethical duties of an executrix

Answer 1

As I am a layman, not an attorney, nor in the legal profession, this will be a layman's answer, until improved by a professional. The fact that you asked about "ethical" duties, indicates that you are aware of the fact that an Executrix, or Executor [aka Administrator], has legal duties which take precidence. It is my opinion that the ethical duty of an Administrator [male or female] is to diligently work to accurately comply with all legal requirements and duties as prescribed by the laws of the state in which the deceased legally resided at the time of death. Once that is considered, then any other decisions [ethical] should, as carefully as possible, be based on the needs, wants, and desires of the legal beneficiaries of the will. Generally, that will fall into the area of the division of personal property which the deceased did not specifically leave to a specific individual in the will, but instead left to all to be divided equally. This can be a very thorny problem as there may be more than one beneficiary wanting the same item(s). This is where the ethical considerations of the Administrator really comes into play, and should be settled with as much consideration as is humanly [and humanely] possible, for all involved. The sad part is that prior to the administrator making a division of that personal propertery, one or more of the beneficiaries may have decended [like a herd of stampeding cattle] on the house, and grabbbed all they could, and making a fair distribution of that missing property can be near to, if not, impossible. If you are in this position, good luck!