Can a executor of a will?

Have your mother place a provision within the will that states if any heir seeks to contest the will they are out of the will completely, very common stipulation,

The will is brought into court and determined to be the last the person has executed and that it has been signed properly and the signature authentic. A person appoints an executor or executrix first and then lists a second name in case the first person is unable or unwilling to accept. If there is a conflict of interest (like in the case you mentioned wherein there is anger or hatred involved or the intention of misinterpretation) then the person named as the executor or executrix should step down and let the alternative person honor the will for the person who has passed.

You said your mother in law "might" leave whatever, well you don't know that for sure, nor is it any of your business, nor should you be concerned if someone likes someone else or not.

Each state does one of two things, either honors the will, or in the alternative (say that maybe the iwll was made under duress) then honors it by the law. A person choses intentionally who they want to get what in their will. If a person did contest the will it would be an authentic reason, and not because someone doesn't like someone.

No, the gifts written in the will, if they do not violate public policy, are the ONLY gifts allowed. The fact that the executor doesn't agree with the choices is totally irrelevant. In fact, because there is a potential conflict of interest, people should consider removing her as having ANY responsibility for the distribution of the estate and replace here with a different administrator for the estate.

1. It isn't her property, never was her property and never will be her property.

2. Her mother could have made the same gifts while she was alive, without anybody's permission.

3. The executor/administrator has a solemn duty to faithfully carry out the post-mortem distribution in conformity with the decedent's exact wishes, to the maximum extent possible.

Every other beneficiary and creditor of the estate should be watching her like a hawk, to make sure that there are no "mysteries" regarding where all the other value of the estate went, if the executor is known to have personal desires that conflict with the will as written: demand full accounting, etc.

I think your Mother in Law needs legal advice from an attorney before she leaves part of her home to Anyone. Leaving part of her home to one heir and the rest of it to another heir would result in a joint ownership. All owners would be equally responsible for property taxes, homeowners insurance and maintenance costs. Any owner who wished to make changes to the residence such as relocate a doorway or install a door where there was a window would need permission from the other owner(s) before the change was made. Even selling it without agreement of ALL the owners could be impossible without a court order which might result for high legal fees to everyone concerned. And at 17 years old, how would the boy pay those fees? I think you can see where this is going, The squabbling could be endless. Since our divorce 6 years ago, I and my ex-husband jointly own a small farm, in Texas, and I have just last week filed a suit to keep part of the property. He wants to sell the whole thing because he has lost interest in it and he thinks his son from a previous marriage may be able to purchase it. My attorney quoted me an estimated cost of $3000, but said it could be, in the end, thousands more. And that is just to KEEP what I already own. IMHO, joint ownership should be avoided whenever possible.

You know the old saying, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure", I think that is particularly so with Wills. Someone perhaps should try to talk your Mother in Law into seeing an attorney about her Will and how best to accomplish what she wants.

Anyone can contest a will, but that does not mean they will succeed. If her mother was of sound mind when she created her will and if she had an attorney prepare the will then the chances of successfully contesting it are slim. Even if the will was made without an attorney the person contesting the will has a great burden of showing fraud in the inducement of the will and this is difficult to prove. The probate courts will go to great lengths to see that a testator's true intent at the time they created their will is honored.