Rule 5.206 Duty to Complete Administration

When someone is put in charge of handling a person's estate (called a fiduciary), they have a legal duty to keep things moving and get the estate wrapped up. The lawyer helping them has the same duty. Neither one can simply let the case sit and drag on without taking the necessary steps to finish the job.

If the fiduciary or their lawyer drops the ball and fails to move things along, the court can step in and take action to close the estate itself. On top of that, the court can make the fiduciary or the lawyer pay the costs out of their own pocket, not from the estate's funds.