Joint Executors

Multiple parties named to administer an estate.

The Interest Which They Have In The Estate Of The Deceased.
    Joint executors are considered in law as but one person, representing the testator, and, therefore, the acts of any one of them which relate either to the delivery, gift, sale, payment, possession or release of the testator's goods, are deemed, as regards the persons with whom they contract, the acts of all. But an executor cannot, without the knowledge of his co-executor, confess a judgment for a claim, part of which was barred by the act of limitations, so as to bind the estate of the testator.

How Far They Are Liable For Each Other's Acts.
    As a general rule, it may be laid down that each executor is liable for his own wrong or devastavit only, and not for that of his colleague. He may be rendered liable, however, for the misplaced confidence which he may have reposed in his coexecutor. As, if he signs a receipt for money in conjunction with another executor, and he receives no part of the money, but agrees that the other executor shall retain it and apply it to his own use, this is his own misapplication for which he is responsible.

Upon the death of one of several joint executors, the right of administering the estate of the testator devolves upon the survivor.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.