How to Remove an Executor in Mississippi — Grounds, Steps, and Deadlines (2026)

✓ Verified September 2026

To remove an executor in Mississippi, you ask the court that appointed the Executor (when named in a will) or Administrator (when appointed in an intestate estate); Mississippi Code Title 91, Chapter 7 is titled “Executors and Administrators.” “Personal representative” is used as a general umbrella term but the Mississippi Code’s operative terms are executor and administrator. to take the job away,

and the court will do it only on a ground the statute recognizes.

This guide gives the Mississippi answer in plain English: the grounds, who has standing, what the filing is called, what the court can do the same day to protect the estate, and what happens after. All facts are from Mississippi law, verified as of September 2026.

Remove an Executor in Mississippi: At a Glance

Here are the Mississippi facts that decide most requests to remove an executor in Mississippi:

When a Court Will Let You Remove an Executor in Mississippi

An executor who is slow, unfriendly, or making decisions you disagree with is not, by itself, removable.

Courts appoint a Executor (when named in a will) or Administrator (when appointed in an intestate estate); Mississippi Code Title 91, Chapter 7 is titled “Executors and Administrators.” “Personal representative” is used as a general umbrella term but the Mississippi Code’s operative terms are executor and administrator. to carry out the will, and they protect that appointment.

What changes the picture is a breach of duty: money missing or mixed with the executor’s own, an inventory or accounting that was never filed, a sale to a relative below value, a refusal to communicate with beneficiaries for months, a conflict of interest, or a conviction or incapacity that makes the job impossible.

Every state’s statute lists the grounds, and the request to remove an executor in Mississippi succeeds when the facts fit one of them.

Grounds to Remove an Executor in Mississippi

Two statutory grounds under § 91-7-85 — (1) the executor or administrator “become[s] disqualified” (loss of legal capacity/qualification to serve, including disqualifying nonresidency or incapacity), and (2) “improper conduct in office” (the catch-all covering neglect of duty, mismanagement or waste of estate assets, self-dealing/conflict of interest, failure to obey court orders, and misappropriation).

Separately, § 91-7-277 makes failure to present a sworn annual account at least once each year (or more often if the court requires) an independent basis on which “the executor or administrator may be removed,” and also a breach of the administration bond.

Mississippi’s removal statute does not itself list conviction of a crime as a separate enumerated ground; a conviction is addressed through the disqualification/improper-conduct grounds at the chancellor’s discretion.

The Steps to Remove an Executor in Mississippi

Step one is to confirm you have standing — “Any person interested” (§ 91-7-85). Mississippi courts read this to include devisees, legatees and heirs at law, a guardian acting for a minor beneficiary, a trustee of a trust entitled to receive estate assets, an heir who would take by intestacy if the will were set aside, co-fiduciaries, and creditors with a stake in the estate’s assets.

The chancery court, sitting in equity over the estate it opened, also retains authority to act on its own motion to protect the estate..

Step two is the paper trail: write to the Executor (when named in a will) or Administrator (when appointed in an intestate estate); Mississippi Code Title 91, Chapter 7 is titled “Executors and Administrators.” “Personal representative” is used as a general umbrella term but the Mississippi Code’s operative terms are executor and administrator. asking for the inventory, the accounting, and an explanation, and keep the letter.

Step three is the filing — Petition (or motion) to remove executor/administrator, filed in the existing estate cause in the Chancery Court of the county where the estate is being administered. § 91-7-85 requires five days’ notice to the executor or administrator before removal. Filings in most counties go through Mississippi Electronic Courts (MEC). — with the ground stated and the documents attached.

Step four is the hearing, where the Executor (when named in a will) or Administrator (when appointed in an intestate estate); Mississippi Code Title 91, Chapter 7 is titled “Executors and Administrators.” “Personal representative” is used as a general umbrella term but the Mississippi Code’s operative terms are executor and administrator. answers and the court decides.

Many courts let you ask for interim protection in the same filing, which is the part families miss.

Protecting the Estate While the Court Decides

Under Miss.

Code Ann. § 91-7-53, when letters testamentary or of administration are appealed from, or a will is contested, the chancery court or chancellor in vacation may, on petition of any interested person, appoint a temporary administrator “if it shall appear necessary for the protection of the rights of the parties,” on such terms and conditions as seem proper;

the temporary administrator’s powers may be special or general and may include taking charge of, preserving and administering the estate until the contest is resolved.

The chancery court’s general equity powers also let it require or increase the administration bond (bond is set at the full value of the estate under § 91-7-41 unless waived), order an accounting, and enjoin transfers or freeze estate accounts pending the hearing. Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-257 bars removal of estate property from the state.

What Happens After Removal

§ 91-7-85 provides that “in case of removal or resignation, administration shall be granted as in case of the death of the executor or administrator, and with like effect.” Under Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-69, letters of administration de bonis non with the will annexed (testate) or de bonis non (intestate) are then granted to the person entitled, who completes the administration.

In practice the chancellor looks first to any successor or alternate executor named in the will, then to the statutory order of priority for administration (surviving spouse, then next of kin/heirs, then creditors or a suitable person the court selects). Chancellors have wide discretion in naming the replacement and are reversed only for clear abuse of that discretion.

Repaying losses: Yes — a removed executor or administrator remains financially answerable in Mississippi. Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-85 states that one “who may be removed, or who may surrender his trust, shall continue to be answerable to the court until his final settlement and satisfaction be made, and until that time shall be liable on his bond.” Miss.

Code Ann. § 91-7-277 makes failure to account annually “a breach of the administration bond, for which it may be put in suit.” The administration bond under Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-41 is set at the full value of the estate (unless waived by the will or the court), giving harmed beneficiaries and creditors a recovery source when a fiduciary mismanages or misappropriates estate property.

Removal and surcharge are separate questions — removal alone does not discharge liability, and the final accounting is where losses are typically charged back.

Other Mississippi rules: (1) Mississippi has no probate or surrogate court — all estate administration is in Chancery Court, and the chancellor may act in vacation on many estate petitions. (2) § 91-7-85 requires only five days’ notice to the fiduciary before removal, one of the shortest statutory notice periods in the country.

(3) Annual accounting is mandatory under § 91-7-277 — a sworn account at least once each year, itemizing every disbursement and identifying the source of every receipt — and failure to file is both a bond breach and a stand-alone removal ground; the court may extend the accounting time on application and cause shown.

(4) Annual accounts are not required if the testator’s will waives accountings, and the court or chancellor may waive them in an intestate estate on the administrator’s petition — but the court may later order accounts on the petition of a beneficiary or other interested party if it finds them necessary or advisable, which is often the practical first step before seeking removal.

(5) Bond is set at the full value of the estate under § 91-7-41 unless waived by the will or the court, and § 91-7-319 allows the executor credit for the cost of a corporate surety bond. (6) Most chancery filings run through Mississippi Electronic Courts (MEC); records are publicly searchable at courthouse terminals.

(7) The chancery clerk’s 85 fee under § 25-7-9 is a single total fee for all clerk services in the estate case.

What It Costs and How Long It Takes

The court filing fee to remove an executor in Mississippi is small; the real cost is the hearing.

If the Executor (when named in a will) or Administrator (when appointed in an intestate estate); Mississippi Code Title 91, Chapter 7 is titled “Executors and Administrators.” “Personal representative” is used as a general umbrella term but the Mississippi Code’s operative terms are executor and administrator. contests the motion, both sides usually retain counsel, and a contested removal can run several months and several thousand dollars in fees,

which the court may or may not order the estate to pay.

Uncontested removals — a fiduciary who has stopped responding or has moved away — are faster and cheaper, and courts grant them routinely when the missed filings are on the record.

Two facts decide the economics. First, the estate’s size: a removal fight over a small estate can consume what is left, so beneficiaries of small estates often ask the court to compel the accounting and set deadlines instead of removing the fiduciary outright. Second, the evidence: a missing inventory is proved with a docket printout, while suspected self-dealing needs bank records and sometimes an appraisal.

The stronger the paper, the shorter the case.

Ask the court clerk what the Executor (when named in a will) or Administrator (when appointed in an intestate estate); Mississippi Code Title 91, Chapter 7 is titled “Executors and Administrators.” “Personal representative” is used as a general umbrella term but the Mississippi Code’s operative terms are executor and administrator. has actually filed before deciding which path to take,

and get the docket printout in writing — it is the exhibit every remove an executor in Mississippi motion starts with.

What to Expect When You Remove an Executor in Mississippi

A request to remove an executor in Mississippi is a contested proceeding inside the probate case, not a separate lawsuit. The court will want the ground stated plainly, the documents that prove it, and a proposed replacement. Hearings are usually short; the decision turns on whether the executor breached a duty, not on whether the family gets along.

Two things surprise people. The first is that the court can act before the hearing — a bond, a freeze on the estate account, or a special administrator — if the estate is at risk. The second is that the estate keeps running while the motion to remove an executor in Mississippi is pending: creditor deadlines, tax filings, and property upkeep do not pause.

Ask the court to address both in the same filing.

Official Mississippi Sources & Resources

• Mississippi Probate Court: https://courts.ms.gov/trialcourts/chancerycourt/chancerycourt.php — State of Mississippi Judiciary, Chancery Courts. Free legal forms and answers for self-represented people are offered through the Mississippi Access to Justice Commission, supported by the Mississippi Supreme Court and the Mississippi Bar.
• Mississippi Removal Statute: https://sos.ms.gov/communications-publications/mississippi-law — the Mississippi Secretary of State’s official portal to the searchable unannotated Mississippi Code of 1972; § 91-7-85 is under Title 91 (Trusts and Estates), Chapter 7 (Executors and Administrators). Historic and current code information is also hosted by the state judiciary at https://library.courts.ms.gov/MSCodeIntro.htm
• Internal Revenue Service — Estate Tax: irs.gov
• Cornell Legal Information Institute: law.cornell.edu/wex

This Mississippi guide was last verified against official sources in September 2026. Laws change — verify with your state court or a licensed attorney.

More Mississippi Estate Guides

• Contest a Will in Mississippi
• Mississippi Probate Process
• Dying Without a Will in Mississippi
• What to Do When an Executor Is Not Doing Their Job
• All State Guides

Disclaimer: This guide is informational only and is not legal or tax advice. Estate, probate, and tax laws change and vary by state and county. Verify current rules and dollar figures with your state’s court, statute, or a licensed attorney or tax professional before acting. For urgent matters like an active probate or a tax deadline, consult a licensed professional in your state right away.