Short answer. No. Rule 78 specifically bars an executor's own executor from administering, as such, the estate of the first testator. A new administrator must instead be appointed for the original, still-unsettled estate, since the second executor's authority extends only to the first executor's personal estate, not the one the first executor was administering.
What the law says
The executor of an executor shall not, as such, administer the estate of the first testator.
Rule 78, Section 2 — Executor of executor not to administer estate. Read the full provision →
Administration doesn't pass down the chain
When an executor dies, their own personal estate will have its own executor appointed to settle it. But that second executor, appointed only to administer the first executor's personal estate, does not thereby inherit authority over the estate the first executor was originally administering. The two administrations stay legally separate, each with its own accountable representative and its own set of heirs and creditors to answer to. This bar binds the second executor specifically 'as such' — nothing stops that same person from later being separately appointed administrator of the first testator's estate in their own right, so long as they qualify and are chosen through the ordinary appointment process, rather than simply inheriting the role by virtue of already administering the deceased executor's personal estate.
Why the rule exists
Each decedent's estate is meant to have its own accountable representative, appointed and bonded specifically for that estate, answerable to that estate's own heirs and creditors. Letting authority simply cascade down a chain of executors would blur that accountability, so a fresh administrator must instead be appointed for the first testator's still-unsettled estate. This is why the rule speaks in terms of representatives 'as such' — the second executor may personally inherit assets or owe duties tied to their own appointment, but never steps into the first executor's shoes for the original estate.
How the new administrator is chosen
Because the first executor's death leaves that original estate without an active representative, the probate court overseeing it must appoint a new administrator to continue the settlement, generally following the same order of preference the rules use whenever there is no surviving executor named in a will, such as the surviving spouse, next of kin, or another suitable person the court deems fit, rather than allowing the second executor's estate to simply absorb the task.
What happens to the unfinished work
Any unsettled matters the first executor left behind — unpaid claims, unresolved distributions, or property still requiring liquidation — pass to the newly appointed administrator of the original estate, not to the deceased executor's own estate or its executor. The new administrator effectively steps into the position the first executor vacated, continuing the original proceeding rather than starting over, while remaining answerable to that same original estate's heirs and creditors.
Related provisions
- Rule 78, Section 2 — Executor of executor not to administer estate
- Rule 78, Section 3 — Married women may serve