Executor Resignation and Removal Requirements in Wyoming
At a glance
| Governing law, office, stage, and court | W.S. §§ 2-2-101, 2-3-101 to -138, 2-4-201 to -211, 2-6-208, 2-7-301 to -307, 2-7-801 to -812; already-appointed personal representative—executor, administrator, successor, or special administrator—in district court. Court commissioner and clerk have specified suspension/bond functions |
|---|---|
| Petitioners, court initiative, and surety role | Court, commissioner, or clerk must suspend on own knowledge or credible information of listed misconduct. At removal hearing any interested person or charging officer may file written allegations. Interested person may verified-petition over insufficient bond or affidavit-petition over account default/nonresidence; surety may seek future release/new security. Listed closer-priority relatives may seek revocation of outsider's intestate letters. No single exclusive petitioner class governs all tracks (§§ 2-3-113, -117 to -120, -127 to -138) |
| Mandatory removal and disqualification | Letters/authority must be revoked for failure to obey further-security order or replace surety, later proof of will after intestate letters, failure to appear after misconduct suspension, or a satisfied cause finding after that suspension. Established competent prior claimant requires former letters revoked. Initial listed misconduct requires suspension pending investigation. These commands are distinct from discretionary resignation-delay and account-default routes (§§ 2-3-116, -120 to -121, -127 to -128, -132 to -134) |
| Discretionary removal grounds | Mandatory-suspension/cause menu: wasted, embezzled, or mismanaged estate property; imminent waste/embezzlement; committed or imminent estate fraud; incompetence; permanent removal from state; wrongful estate neglect; or long neglect of a representative act. Separately, court may revoke before resignation settlement/turnover when delay or other cause and estate circumstances/interested rights require; may remove after finding account default/out-of-state removal; and may use removal for unapproved failure to close within one year (§§ 2-3-125, -127 to -138, 2-7-801) |
| Resignation form, notice, consent, and acceptance | Personal representative may resign at any time by writing filed in district court, but first must settle accounts and deliver the entire estate to the appointed recipient. No fixed resignation notice, beneficiary consent, or express acceptance standard is stated. If delay in settlement/delivery or other cause puts estate circumstances/interested rights at issue, court may revoke letters early and appoint special/general replacement. Discharge cuts off future acts/liability but preserves pre-discharge bond liability (§ 2-3-125) |
| Removal process, hearing, show cause, and interim relief | Misconduct route begins with mandatory suspension, then citation to show cause; interested person/officer may file written allegations, representative may answer, and court decides after hearing. Publication is available for absconded/absent representative; court may compel attendance/answers by attachment/commitment and revoke for refusal. Bond route uses verified petition, personal citation at least 5 days before return, proofs, and at least 5 days for new security. Account-default route uses affidavit, noticed summary hearing including heirs/bondsmen. Special administrator is appointed without notice after suspension/removal to preserve estate (§§ 2-3-112 to -120, -127 to -138, 2-7-301 to -305) |
| Accounting, liability, bond, compensation, and turnover | Resignation requires prior account settlement and full delivery; discharge/release ends future responsibility but not earlier bond liability. Later-will revocation requires directed account. Surety may obtain future-act release after replacement security; insufficient-security default revokes letters. Final account is under oath when estate closes. Representative fees require court order, and only one ordinary-services total is apportioned among cofiduciaries/successors. Final discharge/bond release waits for taxes and distribution requirements (§§ 2-3-118 to -125, 2-7-805, -811 to -812) |
| Successor or interim fiduciary, powers, and notice | Remaining representatives complete administration if one departs; if all die/become incapable/lose authority, new letters issue in original preference/order, with equivalent bond and authority. Misconduct revocation grants administration anew; priority claimant replaces outsider when right proved. District court shall appoint special administrator after death/suspension/removal or other delay, without notice, preferring person entitled to letters; special authority ends with general letters and immediate delivery. No renewed creditor notice is stated (§§ 2-3-122 to -124, -128, -134, 2-4-201 to -202, 2-6-208, 2-7-301 to -307) |
| Appeal, stay, transition, and reinstatement | No special removal appeal, stay, or reinstatement rule appears in the surveyed removal provisions. Acts before revocation remain valid. Resignation follows filed writing only after settlement/delivery; discharge ends future liability. Special-administrator appointment during suspension/removal is expressly nonappealable and ends upon general letters and turnover. Later-will revocation immediately ends administrator power, while replacement representative takes unadministered estate rights (§§ 2-3-121 to -126, 2-7-303, -306) |
Requirements one by one
Wyoming uses personal representative for executors, administrators, successors, and special administrators. Its Probate Code contains several separate revocation routes rather than one consolidated removal section. W.S. § 2-2-101 places probate, letters, settlement, and distribution in the district courts.
Listed misconduct triggers suspension and a show-cause case
Under W.S. §§ 2-3-127 to -131, the court, commissioner, or clerk must suspend powers when own knowledge or credible information supplies reason to believe the representative wasted, embezzled, mismanaged, or is about to waste or embezzle estate property; committed or is about to commit estate fraud; is incompetent; permanently left the state; wrongfully neglected the estate; or long neglected a representative act.
The representative is then cited to show cause. An interested person or the charging officer may file written allegations, the representative may answer, and the court hears the issue. Failure to appear or a satisfied cause finding requires revocation and new letters. Publication, attachment, compelled sworn answers, commitment, and revocation for refusal support enforcement.
Bond, priority, and accounting have separate removal tracks
W.S. §§ 2-3-113 to -120 permit interested-person and own-initiative bond review, provide a five-day minimum citation and cure framework, and require revocation for disobeying the security order. A surety may demand replacement security and obtain future-act release.
W.S. §§ 2-3-132 to -138 separately cover a competent closer-priority claimant and an interested person's affidavit alleging account default or removal from the state. Proven priority requires replacement; proven account default or nonresidence permits removal after the noticed summary hearing. W.S. § 2-7-801 also permits removal/replacement as one remedy for failing to close within one year without verified good cause and an approving order.
Resignation requires settlement and delivery before filing
W.S. §§ 2-3-125 to -126 permit resignation by a writing filed in district court only after the representative settles accounts and delivers the entire estate to the appointed recipient. The statute states no fixed resignation notice or beneficiary-consent condition. If delay or other cause makes early protection necessary, the court may revoke first and appoint a special or general replacement. Discharge ends future responsibility but preserves prior bond liability; prior acts remain valid.
W.S. § 2-7-805 requires a court order before representative fees are paid and apportions the single ordinary-services fee among cofiduciaries or successors. W.S. §§ 2-7-811 to -812 require the sworn final report, accounting, distribution hearing, and tax showing before discharge or bond release.
Successor and special administration preserve continuity
W.S. §§ 2-3-121 to -124 preserve remaining-representative authority and use original appointment priority, bond, and authority if everyone departs. W.S. §§ 2-4-201 to -202; § 2-6-208 supply intestate and testate priority. W.S. §§ 2-7-301 to -307 require a special administrator after suspension or removal, allow appointment without notice, prefer the person entitled to letters, and require account and turnover when general letters issue.
What trips people up
“May remove” and “shall revoke” occur in different Wyoming routes. The misconduct show-cause route and bond-order defaults are mandatory at their specified decision points; account-default/nonresidence and one-year-closing remedies remain discretionary.
Resignation is not a notice-first UPC filing. Wyoming places account settlement and delivery before the resignation writing.
Common questions
Can the court begin without an interested-person petition?
Yes. The court, commissioner, or clerk can trigger misconduct suspension from own knowledge or credible information, and the bond court can proceed without an application when insufficiency comes to its knowledge.
What happens while the representative is suspended or removed?
Section 2-7-301 requires appointment of a special administrator to collect, protect, and preserve the estate. The appointment may occur without notice and cannot be appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court under Section 2-7-303.
Is there a special removal appeal, stay, or reinstatement rule?
The surveyed removal provisions state none. They preserve acts completed before revocation and make the interim special-administrator appointment nonappealable.
Statutes and sources
- W.S. §§ 2-3-113 to -138 — bond/surety relief, mandatory and discretionary revocation routes, resignation, liability, suspension, show cause, priority, account default, and replacement.
- W.S. §§ 2-4-201 to -202 and 2-6-208 — intestate and testate successor priority.
- W.S. §§ 2-7-301 to -307 and 2-7-801 to -812 — special administration, prompt closing, fees, final account, discharge, and bond release.
All groups appear in the official current Wyoming Title 2 PDF (accessed August 28, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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