Who takes over responsibility for the estate of deceased person if the named executor dies ?

I have been appointed as an executor to someone who himself was the executor to his father, on an estate on which probate was granted but that had not been completed.

It seems that you are responsible, as executor of the named executor. The rationale behind this is that if the deceased trusted you sufficiently to appoint you his executor, then he would trust you to carry on his work in progress as executor of the other estate. You will have to apply to the court for the change of executor to be registered. Perhaps it would be better to consult a solicitor on this one.

Greedy people.

his wife

Appoint two, that way you should be covered. In most cases the acting solicitor would become executor, if also named.

If the answer isn't specified in the wills of the father or the original executor's, then I believe the next of kin of the original executor will recieve the estate. However, since you are the executor written in the will of the original executor, you would recieve the estate as written in the will.

A representative of the court, I believe.

If the named Executor/Personal Representative of a Will dies, and no successor has been named in the Will, the heirs/beneficiaries must look to the State statute governing the appointment of the Personal Representative/Executor (PR). In the State of Maryland, for instance, one would look to the Annotated Code of Maryland, Estates and Trusts Article 搂6-101, at which we find that there is no specific priority given, only that a person make application to be the PR; in Maryland, if more than one person applies, the Probate Court may name one PR or more than one Co-PR to administer the Estate of the Decedent. Priority would likely be given to a family member in the order in which the family would inherit had the decedent died intestate (i.e., without a Will.)