Executor Liability: An executor is personally liable for the estate's estate tax
liability if the assets of the estate are distributed to the beneficiaries and the
executor knew or should have known of the IRS's claim. CCA 201212020. In a
recent case the executor was not held liable because the estate lacked assets to
pay the tax and many assets were non-probate assets. Singer, TC Memo 2016-
48 (3/14/2016). Before doing a happy dance executors should consider the lia-
bility they might face with new Form 8971.
