Short answer. Yes. Under Rule 82, Section 2 of the Rules of Court, if an administrator neglects to render his account and settle the estate according to law, or to perform a court order or a duty the Rules impose, the court may remove him — or, in its discretion, permit him to resign.
What the law says
If an executor or administrator neglects to render his account and settle the estate according to law, or to perform an order or judgment of the court, or a duty expressly provided by these rules, or absconds, or becomes insane, or otherwise incapable or unsuitable to discharge the trust, the court may remove him
Rule 82, Section 2 — Court may remove or accept resignation of executor or administrator; Proceedings upon death, resignation, or removal. Read the full provision →
What the law says
If there is no remaining executor or administrator, administration may be granted to any suitable person.
Rule 82, Section 2 — Court may remove or accept resignation of executor or administrator; Proceedings upon death, resignation, or removal. Read the full provision →
The grounds for removal
Rule 82, Section 2 lists them. An administrator may be removed if he neglects to render his account and settle the estate according to law, fails to perform an order or judgment of the court, or a duty expressly provided by these rules, absconds, becomes insane, or is otherwise incapable or unsuitable to discharge the trust. The situation described in the question — years of inaction and no accounting — sits squarely on the first ground. Accounting is not a courtesy the family must coax out of the administrator; it is a duty, and neglecting it is itself a reason to take the trust away. The final catch-all, unsuitability, reaches conduct the specific grounds miss.
Removal is the court's call, not automatic
Note the operative words: the court may remove him, or, in its discretion, may permit him to resign. Proving a ground does not remove the administrator by itself — the probate court weighs the evidence and decides, and it can choose the softer exit of accepting a resignation instead. That discretion cuts both ways for a complaining heir. It means the court will want a real record of the neglect, not accumulated frustration; and it means the administrator will get the chance to explain, account late, or comply. The motion to remove is filed in the settlement proceeding itself, before the same court supervising the administration, since that court issued the letters and controls the trust.
What happens to the estate after removal
The section answers the question families ask next: who takes over? When an executor or administrator dies, resigns, or is removed the remaining executor or administrator may administer the trust alone, unless the court appoints someone to act with him. Where there was only one — the usual case — the rule provides that if there is no remaining executor or administrator, administration may be granted to any suitable person. So removal does not orphan the estate or end the settlement; the proceeding continues under a replacement. An heir moving for removal should think a step ahead and be ready to propose that suitable person, rather than leaving the vacancy to chance.
Building the record before you move
Because removal turns on demonstrated neglect, the paper trail decides it. Gather the letters of administration and their date, every order the court has issued directing an accounting or other action, and proof of what the administrator has and has not done since — no inventory filed, no account rendered, properties left to deteriorate or rented out with nothing remitted. Dates matter: neglect is measured against time, and a long, documented gap between duty and performance speaks louder than any characterisation. With that record, a lawyer can frame the motion on the specific words of the rule — the neglect to render his account and settle the estate according to law — instead of a general complaint.