Hi there. When a person dies with a will, their property and assets (known as their ‘estate’) will be divided up and/or managed according to the terms of the will by a person nominated as the executor. An executor of a will is the person responsible for carrying out the wishes of the deceased person after they die. An executor’s duties do not necessarily cease when the final distributions have been made. This can occur if the will requires particular property to be held for the benefit of certain people on an ongoing basis (e.g. property held on trust for beneficiaries). An executor must manage the estate according to the terms of the will and they are legally required to protect the assets of the estate.

From the information you provided, it appears that your mother left her children a family plot as part of her estate. Any decisions relating to the plot will depend on the terms of your mother’s will. If the will specified that the executor is responsible for the ongoing management of the estate (even after all of her other assets have been distributed), then the executor will have the power to make decisions with respect to the plot. As an interested party, you may be able to commence legal proceedings to challenge the decisions of the executor, but this ordinarily requires some degree of impropriety by the executor or other evidence that they are not doing their job properly.

If your mother’s will did not contemplate ongoing management of the plot by the executor, but they are continuing to make decisions with respect to the plot, then you may have a stronger claim against the executor to stop them dealing with the plot.