(755 ILCS 5/6-14) (from Ch. 110 1/2, par. 6-14)

Sec. 6-14. Power of executor before issuance of letters.) Before issuance of letters to an executor his power extends to the carrying out of any gift of the decedent's body or any part thereof, to the burial of the decedent, the payment of necessary funeral charges and the preservation of the estate; but if the will is not admitted to probate, the executor is not liable as an executor of his own wrong, except for his refusal to deliver the estate to the person authorized by law to receive it or for waste or misapplication of the estate.

(Source: P.A. 79-328.)