EXECUTORS AND ADMINISTRATORS-EXECUTOR'S ''RIGHT OF RETAINER" OF DISTRIBUTIVE SHARE OF ESTATE WHERE DISTRIBUTEE IS INDEBTED TO DECEDENT

Authors

Abstract

A question little noticed by legal writers, but of utmost importance in the administration and distribution of decedents' estates, is the universally recognized right of executors and administrators of the estates to retain a distributive share as satisfaction in whole or in part for a debt due from the distributee to the estate of the decedent. It should be remarked at the outset that the term "retainer" as here used is itself a misnomer; properly speaking, that term refers to the right of an executor, who is himself a creditor of the estate, to retain from its funds in his hands a sum sufficient to repay his debt. The term, however, is that which is usually used to refer to the nonpayment of legacies to debtor legatees, and is perhaps as satisfactory as any other which has been suggested.

Recommended Citation

EXECUTORS AND ADMINISTRATORS-EXECUTOR'S ''RIGHT OF RETAINER" OF DISTRIBUTIVE SHARE OF ESTATE WHERE DISTRIBUTEE IS INDEBTED TO DECEDENT, 34 Mich. L. Rev. 395 (1936).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol34/iss3/7