Executor Resignation and Removal Requirements in Oregon

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Oregon uses the office personal representative. ORS Chapter 113 places removal, surviving-cofiduciary authority, resignation acceptance, successor appointment, and successor notice in the existing estate proceeding.

An interested person or the court may trigger show cause

Under ORS § 113.195(5), when removal grounds appear to exist, the court acts on its own motion or on the petition of any interested person and must order the representative to appear and show cause.

A copy of the show-cause order and any petition must be served on both the personal representative and the surety as the removal statute directs. The surety is a required recipient, but § 113.195 does not give the surety express removal petition standing.

Loss of qualification or incapacity requires removal

Under § 113.195(1), the court shall remove a representative who ceases to qualify under § 113.095 or becomes incapable of discharging duties.

Section 113.095's disqualifications cover incapacity or financial incapability, minority, specified Oregon-lawyer suspension or disbarment, disciplinary resignation from the Oregon State Bar until reinstatement, and a licensed funeral service practitioner unless the stated relationship exception applies.

Unfaithfulness, neglect, disclosure failure, and good cause are discretionary

Under § 113.195(2)-(4), the court may remove for unfaithfulness to or neglect of the trust, failure to comply with the felony-disclosure duty in § 113.092, or other good cause shown.

The statute does not separately enumerate waste, conflict, beneficiary demand, cofiduciary deadlock, or persistent ineffective administration. Those facts must not be presented as standalone statutory grounds beyond the text's broad unfaithfulness, neglect, and good-cause standards.

Resignation requires court acceptance, but no form is supplied

Under § 113.215(1), the successor route recognizes a representative who “resigns and the resignation is accepted by the court.” The section does not state a writing or petition form, signature, service list, notice period, beneficiary consent, account-first condition, or findings for acceptance.

Accepted resignation is therefore distinct from a private letter treated as immediately effective.

Show cause has no fixed statewide interval or interim suspension

Section 113.195 requires an appearance and show cause plus service on the representative and surety, but states no number of days for service, a response, or the hearing. It also states no temporary suspension or restriction of the representative's powers while the removal question is pending.

Under § 113.005, a special administrator may protect property in danger of loss, injury, or deterioration before a personal representative is appointed and qualified. The special administrator's bounded authority ordinarily uses a bond and ends when permanent qualification occurs.

The removal cluster states no special outgoing account deadline

Sections 113.195 to 113.225 state no deadline for an outgoing representative's account, no express removal-specific delivery of estate assets or records, no compensation consequence, and no automatic liability or bond release.

Under § 113.115, a surety may be discharged by a separate statutory order. Under § 113.005(5), a special administrator—not the removed general representative—must account and deliver possessed assets within 30 days after permanent letters issue.

A survivor continues; a sole vacancy must be filled

Under § 113.205, surviving copersonal representatives may exercise every joint power after another appointment terminates unless the will provides otherwise.

Under § 113.215(1), the court may replace a representative who dies, is removed, or resigns with court acceptance. If that person was the sole or last surviving representative and administration remains incomplete, the court shall appoint a replacement.

The successor has all rights and powers of the predecessor or named personal representative except a will power made personal to the named representative. Any required bond precedes letters and acting under §§ 113.105 and 113.125.

The successor may need to restart creditor publication

Under § 113.225, if the predecessor leaves after publication but before the original four-month period expires, the successor must republish notice as if originally appointed. The new notice identifies the departure and both appointment dates and starts a new four-month claim-presentation warning.

The rules in § 113.215(2)-(3) separately require revocation and replacement letters when a probated will is invalidated or a will is later found and proved.

The cited provisions state no special removal appeal, automatic stay, temporary-on-appeal status, or reinstatement route.

What trips people up

• Mandatory and discretionary grounds are separated. Loss of qualification or incapacity says “shall”; unfaithfulness, neglect, disclosure failure, and good cause say “may.”
• Resignation is not self-executing. Section 113.215 expressly requires court acceptance.
• Successor notice can restart the creditor clock. Departure during the original four-month period triggers republication under § 113.225.

Common questions

Must the surety receive the removal papers? Yes. Section 113.195(5) requires service of the show-cause order and any petition on the surety as well as the representative.

Does every departure require a successor? The court must appoint one if the departed representative was sole or last and administration is incomplete. Otherwise, a surviving cofiduciary may continue.

Does Oregon prescribe a resignation letter? Not in the cited statewide provisions. They require court acceptance but do not supply the form or acceptance criteria.

Statutes and sources

• ORS §§ 113.092, 113.095, and 113.195 — mandatory and discretionary grounds, interested-person petition, show cause, and service on the surety. — official 2025 Edition ORS Chapter 113 (accessed 2026-08-28).
• ORS §§ 113.205 to 113.225 — surviving representative, accepted resignation, mandatory replacement, inherited powers, changed testacy, and successor republication. — official 2025 Edition ORS Chapter 113 (accessed 2026-08-28).
• ORS §§ 113.005, 113.105, 113.115, and 113.125 — special administration, bond, surety discharge, letters, and qualification. — official 2025 Edition ORS Chapter 113 (accessed 2026-08-28).