Opinion ID: 2197978
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Removal as Personal Representative

Text: A personal representative shall be removed from office upon a finding by the Court that such representative: (1) misrepresented material facts in the proceedings leading to the appointment.... D.C.Code § 20-526 (2001). Whether the misrepresentations made to McKenney to induce the assignment or the untruths he told in the hearing following his appointment would by themselves fall within this statutory provision are issues we need not linger on. Here, the facts as recited above reveal numerous irregularities in the preparation of the petition for probate, in its content, and in the initial hearing before the probate court sufficient, in the particular circumstances here and taken as a whole, to justify removal under the quoted section. Once such misrepresentations were found, the trial court was statutorily bound to remove the personal representative. In re Bates, 948 A.2d 518, 524 (D.C.2008); see D.C.Code § 20-526 (2001). Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed.