Libro Tercero · Título II Capítulo VII. Albaceas

An executor or testamentary executor is the person to whom the testator entrusts the fulfillment of his will.

Executors shall have all the powers expressly conferred upon them by the testator that are not contrary to the laws.

There may also be a judicial executor, by appointment of a judge.

A judicial executor shall be appointed only in cases of resignation, removal or absence of the person appointed in the will, when so requested by the instituted heirs.

The heirs or the judge, as the case may be, may require a guarantee from the judicial executor.

It is incumbent upon the heirs to carry out the will of the testator when he has not appointed an executor.

It is also incumbent upon the heirs to execute the testator's dispositions, provided they have not been fulfilled, whether because they are not included in the commission of the executorship, or due to lack of possibility or willingness on the part of the appointed executor.

The executorship may be conferred on one or more persons to exercise it jointly or one after another.

To serve as executor, it is necessary to have reached eighteen years of age, to be legally able to administer property, not to be incapable of acquiring such property by title of inheritance, and not to be in active service performing judicial functions or functions of the Public Prosecutor's Office, even if on temporary leave, except in cases involving the successions of one's relatives.

No one is obliged to accept the office of executor, but may not renounce it after having accepted it, except with just cause, in the judgment of the judge.

The powers and attributions of the executors, in addition to those designated by the testator, shall be the following:

1a. To arrange and pay for the funerals of the testator, in accordance with what was ordered by the latter, and in the absence of such provision, according to the customs of the place and the means of the inheritance;

2a. To take the necessary steps for the immediate security of the property;

3a. To make the inventory, with the intervention of the heirs, and when there are none, with that of the persons interested in the property;

4a. To pay the debts and legacies; and

5a. To administer the property until the heirs take possession thereof.

When the testator has instituted family patrimony, the executor, and if there is none, the heirs, have the obligation to take the pertinent steps to comply with the provisions of the will, and must initiate them at the time the succession is opened.

If there is not enough money in the inheritance to make the payments of the debts and of the legacies, the executors shall promote the sale of the movable property, and if such property is insufficient, that of the immovable property, proceeding in both cases with the intervention of the heirs. If the heirs are minors or incapacitated persons, there shall be no proceeding without judicial intervention.

Once the inventory has been taken, the executor shall see to it that specific legacies are delivered and shall secure payment of the other legacies, to the legatees' satisfaction; and the inheritance shall remain in the possession of the heirs, even though the legal term of the executorship has not elapsed.

While the executor has not been removed and there has been no declaration of heirs, he has the representation of the succession to sue and to answer in judicial proceedings, unless prohibited by the testator.

The office of executor is merely personal and may not be transmitted nor substituted by the person exercising it. However, the civil liabilities incurred by reason of his administration pass to his heirs.

Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding article, the executors may grant special powers in relation to the acts incumbent upon them, being personally liable for the acts of the agent.

During the exercise of the executorship, and while the administration accounts are not approved, the executor may not acquire, by himself or through another, property of the testamentary estate, nor credits against it, under penalty of nullity.

The executor, to whom the testator has not fixed a time limit, shall fulfill his commission within one year counted from his acceptance, or from the termination of the litigation brought regarding the validity or nullity of the will or of any of its provisions.

If the testator wishes to extend the legal time limit, he shall expressly indicate the period of the extension. If he has not indicated it, the time limit shall be deemed extended by one year. If, upon expiration of this extension, the will of the testator has still not been fulfilled, the judge may grant another extension for the time that may be necessary, considering the circumstances of the case.

The heirs and legatees may, by common agreement, extend the time limit of the executorship for the time they deem necessary; but if the agreement is only by majority, the extension may not exceed one year.

Provisions by which the testator exempts the executor from the obligation to make an inventory and render accounts are null and void by operation of law.

The executor shall give to the interested parties a documented account of the executorship, immediately after having exercised it.

The expenses of the executorship shall be paid from the inheritance.

The executor, if he is not heir or legatee, shall receive for his work the fee of two percent (2%) of the value of the property administered or inventoried by him, if the amount reaches or exceeds fifty thousand quetzales; three percent (3%), if to forty; three and one-half percent (3 1/2%), if to thirty; four percent (4%), if to twenty; and five percent (5%), when it falls below that amount. If there are several executors, such fee shall be distributed among them, proportionally to the work that each has performed.

In inheritance from a certain day, or from when the testator's charges have been fulfilled, the heirs have the right to require that the executor secure the return of the property, for when the day arrives or the charges have been fulfilled, without further impairment insofar as it depends on him, than that which naturally results from the testator's dispositions.

Legatees from a certain day, or from the time the testator's instructions have been fulfilled, there being no heirs, enjoy the same right granted to the latter in the preceding article.

On grounds of negligence, abuse or misappropriation, executors may be removed, whatever their class and the extent of their powers may be, at the request of those interested in the property.

The executorship terminates upon the death, impossibility, resignation or removal of the executor, and upon the expiry of the term fixed by the testator, by the law and, as the case may be, by the interested parties.