Updated August 7, 2026. Quick answer: if you name two executors, the default in most states is that they must both agree on everything. 🔴 Not a majority, not either one acting alone — concurrence of all, on every act. That is a far heavier default than most people naming two children realise.
The default rule
If 2 or more persons are appointed corepresentatives and unless the will provides otherwise, the concurrence of all is required on all acts connected with the administration and distribution of the estate.
Two phrases carry the weight. “All acts” — not major decisions, all of them. And “unless the will provides otherwise” — 🔴 which is the single most useful sentence on this page, because it means the drafter can change the rule and almost nobody does.
It is not the same everywhere
| Jurisdiction | Two representatives | Three or more |
|---|---|---|
| Uniform Probate Code states | All must concur | All must concur |
| California | “both must concur to exercise a power” | a majority |
| New York | joint action | majority rules |
⚠️ The practical asymmetry worth noticing: in California and New York, going from two executors to three changes the rule from unanimity to majority. Three can outvote a holdout. Two cannot. In UPC states that escape does not exist by default.
What to do when you are naming them
🔴 The safest structure is usually one executor plus an alternate, not two co-executors. It avoids the unanimity problem entirely, and it is what most people actually mean when they name both children — they mean “I trust you equally”, not “neither of you may act without the other’s signature on every document.”
If you do name co-executors, use the escape the statute already gives you: the will can provide otherwise. A clause permitting either to act alone, or majority rule, or naming a tie-breaker, is ordinary drafting — and it is the difference between an estate that closes and one that stalls. What happens when they cannot agree.
On what the job pays and costs: the executor fee calculator.
Sources
The concurrence default: Uniform Probate Code §3-717, as enacted at Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 18-C §3-717. California: Cal. Prob. Code §9630. New York: N.Y. Est. Powers & Trusts Law §10-10.7. All read 7 August 2026. General information about how these rules work, not legal advice on your document or your state. Probate law is state law and the details differ; confirm anything decision-critical with a lawyer in your state.