Title 91, Trusts and Estates

Parties interested in an estate as legatees, distributees, or creditors may, either jointly or severally, institute proceedings upon the bond of the executor or administrator or guardian for a devastavit against the principal and his surety without first having instituted suit ag…

If the bond of an executor or an administrator, whether taken at the time of the grant of letters or afterwards, be insufficient, the court or chancellor or clerk may, on five days’ notice to the executor or administrator, require him to give a new bond; and in default thereof th…

A surety on any bond of an executor, administrator, county administrator, or any other administrator apprehending danger of loss because of his suretyship may petition the court, chancellor, or clerk to require the executor or administrator to give a new bond and that he may be d…

Any receiver, assignee, guardian, executor, administrator, or other fiduciary required by law or the order of any court or judge to give bond or other obligation, as such, may include, as a part of the lawful expense of executing this trust, and may receive credit for the sum pai…

If any person entitled, under a decree of the chancery court, to a distributive share of an estate, or any other funds under the control of the court, shall not apply for it within six months after the decree of the court adjudicating his right thereto, a custodian of such share …

(1) Except as may be otherwise provided by Sections 81-5-63, 81-12-135, 81-12-137 and 91-7-323, at any time after thirty (30) days from the death of a decedent, any person indebted to the decedent or having possession of tangible personal property or an instrument evidencing a de…

When any person, male or female, shall die leaving wages, salary or other compensation due him, it shall be lawful for the debtor to pay said wages, salary or other compensation to the wife or husband, as the case may be, of said deceased creditor if he or she leaves a wife or hu…

After the sixty days referred to in Section 91-7-323 have passed, the parties hereinbefore designated as being the person to whom the wages so due the deceased creditor may be paid shall have the right, if they be adults, to maintain a suit to recover the amount due to the deceas…

Where such wages are paid to the chancery clerk as provided in Sections 91-7-323 and 91-7-325, it shall be the duty of the chancery clerk to pay that portion of the wages of such employee which may belong to the adult children or brothers and sisters of such deceased employe, and…

Sections 91-7-323 through 91-7-327 shall not apply in cases where the estate of deceased creditor is administered upon.

Authenticated copies of wills proven according to the laws of any of the states of the union, of the territories, of the District of Columbia, or any foreign country, and affecting or disposing of real property within this state, may be admitted to probate in the proper court. Su…

The word administrator in this chapter shall embrace a temporary administrator whenever the contrary is not clearly inferable from the context.

The executor named in any last will and testament, whether made in this state or out of it and admitted to probate here on an authenticated copy or on the original, shall be entitled to letters testamentary thereon if not legally disqualified. A person shall not be capable of bei…

The age of eighteen (18) years shall be the age of majority of an executor, executrix, administrator or administratrix. In case letters testamentary or of administration shall be granted to any one under twenty-one (21) years, the bond executed by such person for the performance …

If there be no executor named in any last will and testament, or if the executors named all renounce the executorship or, being required to qualify, shall all refuse or fail to do so or shall refuse or wilfully neglect, for the space of forty days after the death of the testator,…

Every executor or administrator with the will annexed, at or prior to the time of obtaining letters testamentary or of administration, shall take and subscribe the following oath, viz.:“I do swear that the writing exhibited by me is the true last will and testament of , as far as…

If the executor be a residuary legatee, he may, instead of the bond required of other executors, give bond payable to the state in a sum, with two or more sureties, to the satisfaction of the court or clerk, conditioned to pay all the debts and legacies of the testator within one…

If the testator, by will, direct that his executor shall not be required to give bond, then none shall be required unless the court or the clerk, at the time of granting the letters or afterwards, shall have reason to require bond, in which event it shall be the duty of the court…

(1) Every executor or administrator with the will annexed, who has qualified, shall have the right to the possession of all the personal estate of the deceased, unless otherwise directed in the will; and he shall take all proper steps to acquire possession of any part thereof tha…

Whenever any last will and testament shall empower and direct the executor as to the sale of property, the payment of debts and legacies, and the management of the estate, the directions of the will shall be followed by the executor, and the provisions herein contained shall not …

The chancery court of the proper county, on being informed that any person has the last will and testament of a testator or testatrix, may compel such person to produce it.

(1) As used in Sections 91-7-501 through 91-7-523:(1) “Local administration” means administration by a personal representative appointed in this state pursuant to appointment proceedings.(2) “Personal representative” means an executor, an administrator with or without the will an…

(1) At any time after the expiration of sixty (60) days from the death of a nonresident decedent, any person indebted to the estate of the nonresident decedent or having possession or control of personal property, or of an instrument evidencing a debt, obligation, stock or chose …

Payment or delivery made in good faith on the basis of the proof of authority, including the admitted will and letters testamentary or letters of administration or substantial equivalent, authenticated under the Acts of Congress under 28 U.S.C. Section 1739, and affidavit release…

Payment or delivery under Section 91-7-503 may not be made if a resident creditor of the nonresident decedent has notified the debtor of the nonresident decedent or the person having possession of the personal property belonging to the nonresident decedent that the debt should no…

If no local administration or application or petition therefor is pending in this state, a domiciliary foreign personal representative may file with a court in this state in a county in which property belonging to the decedent is located, authenticated copies of his appointment, …

The receipt by an executor or any trustee, whether under a will or other instrument, for any money payable to him in the execution of his trust shall discharge the person paying it from any liability to see to the application of the money, unless otherwise expressly provided in t…

A domiciliary foreign personal representative who has complied with Section 91-7-509 may exercise as to assets in this state all powers of a local personal representative, and may maintain actions and proceedings in this state subject to any conditions imposed upon nonresident pa…

The power of a domiciliary foreign personal representative under Section 91-7-503 or Section 91-7-511 shall be exercised only if there is no administration or application therefor pending in this state. An application or petition for local administration of the estate terminates …

(1) In respect to a nonresident decedent, the provisions of this chapter govern:(1) Proceedings, if any, in a court of this state for probate of the will, appointment, removal, supervision, and discharge of the local personal representative, and any other order concerning the est…

A foreign personal representative submits personally to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state in any proceeding relating to the estate by: (1) filing authenticated copies of his appointment as provided in Section 91-7-509; or (2) receiving payment of money or taking delive…

In addition to jurisdiction conferred by Section 91-7-515, a foreign personal representative is subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state to the same extent that his decedent was subject to jurisdiction immediately before death.

(a) Service of process may be made upon the foreign personal representative by registered or certified mail, addressed to his last reasonably ascertainable address, requesting a return receipt signed by addressee only. Notice by ordinary first-class mail is sufficient if register…

An adjudication rendered in any jurisdiction in favor of or against any foreign personal representative of the estate is as binding on the local personal representative as if he were a party to the adjudication.

Whenever it shall be necessary for the care and preservation of the estate of a decedent before the grant of letters testamentary, or of administration, to the person entitled thereto, the chancery court or chancellor in vacation, or the clerk of such court, on the petition of an…

Before the temporary administrator shall act as such, he shall take and subscribe an oath at or prior to the time of his appointment to faithfully discharge the duties required of him by law as such temporary administrator, and shall give bond, payable to the state, in such penal…

The temporary administrator shall have power, and it shall be his duty, to collect the goods, chattels, personal property and debts of the decedent and to give acquittances for debts and liabilities upon payment. He may sue and be sued in all cases in which a general or regular a…

On the grant of letters testamentary or of administration, the powers of a temporary administrator shall cease, and it shall be his duty at once to settle his accounts with the court or chancellor in vacation and to deliver all the estate that may be in his hands to the person to…

If necessary, an administrator may be appointed to institute and conduct suits, whose power shall cease when the litigation is entirely closed and who shall only account for the proceeds of the suit.

(1) Letters of administration shall be granted by the chancery court of the county in which the intestate had, at the time of his death, a fixed place of residence. If the intestate did not have a fixed place of residence, then by the chancery court of the county where the intest…

Letters of administration shall not be granted to a person under the age of eighteen (18) years, of unsound mind, or convicted of any felony.

The person to whom administration is granted, at or prior to the granting thereof, shall take and prescribe the following oath:“I do swear that , deceased, died without any will, as far as I know or believe, and that I, if and when appointed, will well and truly administer all th…

Upon the death intestate of any person under legal disability for whom a guardian, conservator or other fiduciary has been appointed by a court of competent jurisdiction and is serving, the judge or clerk of such court, upon proof of death of such person, may issue letters of adm…

If an executor or administrator die, resign, be removed, or become incompetent, letters of administration de bonis non with the will annexed, or de bonis non, shall be granted to the person entitled, and he shall proceed in the administration of the estate. The letters, bond, and…

The due execution of the will, whether heretofore or hereafter executed, must be proved by at least one (1) of the subscribing witnesses, if alive and competent to testify. If none of the subscribing witnesses can be produced to prove the execution of the will, it may be establis…

Every administrator de bonis non shall be entitled to all choses in action taken or held by any former executor or administrator, and may institute suit therefor and, if necessary, enjoin the former executor or administrator from collecting the same. He may sue on the bond of any…