Title 91, Trusts and Estates

Such decree may be rendered by the presiding chancellor of the court in vacation at any time or place within his district, provided summons has been served on the heirs of the decedent, or devisees under the will of the testator, in the manner provided by law for the service of s…

If any person sell lands, enter into contract to make title, and die before the title be made, then the person to whom the title was to be made, his heirs or assigns, may petition the court which granted the letters on the estate of the vendor, for an order on the executor or adm…

The administrator, executor, or testamentary trustee may at any time, by and with the consent of the chancery court or the chancellor in vacation, when the chancellor deems it to the best interests of the estate, execute a deed of conveyance conveying any real property formerly o…

In case it shall be made to appear to the court that a lease of the lands of the deceased can be made to raise the money necessary for the payment of the debts of the deceased, and that the leasing thereof will be to the interest of the devisees, legatees, heirs, or distributees,…

The chancery court or the chancellor in vacation, when he deems it to the best interest of the estate, may authorize the administrator, executor, or testamentary trustee to renew for a specified time any obligation of the deceased and, if such obligation be secured by encumbrance…

The court or chancellor in vacation, on petition for that purpose, may authorize the executor or administrator to sell or compromise any claim belonging to the estate which cannot be readily collected; but an order authorizing a sale of any claim shall not be made until after six…

Any person interested may, at any time within two years, by petition or bill, contest the validity of the will probated without notice; and an issue shall be made up and tried as other issues to determine whether the writing produced be the will of the testator or not. If some pe…

An executor, administrator, or temporary administrator may maintain any action or suit which shall accrue to him in the due course of administration, on any contract which he is authorized to make as such, or for the recovery of personal property, or for injuries thereto.

Executors, administrators, and temporary administrators may commence and prosecute any personal action whatever, at law or in equity, which the testator or intestate might have commenced and prosecuted. They shall also be liable to be sued in any court in any personal action whic…

When any decedent shall in his lifetime have committed any trespass, the person injured, or his executor or administrator, shall have the same action against the executor or administrator of the decedent as he might have had or maintained against the testator or intestate, and sh…

When either of the parties to any personal action shall die before final judgment, the executor or administrator of such deceased party may prosecute or defend such action, and the court shall render judgment for or against the executor or administrator. If such executor or admin…

A suit or action shall not be brought against an executor or administrator until after the expiration of ninety (90) days from the date of letters testamentary or of administration.

If any executor or administrator die, resign, or be removed, suits or actions commenced by or against him shall not, for that reason, abate; but the same may be prosecuted by or against his successor, who may make himself a party by proper suggestion or, if he fail to do so, may …

Executors, administrators, and temporary administrators shall not be bound to plead specially to any action or suit at law brought against them, but they may give any special matter in evidence under the general issue. An executor or administrator, or the sureties on his bond, sh…

Any legatee, heir, distributee, or creditor may be admitted by the court to defend any suit against the executor or administrator of the estate in which he is interested, and the case shall be tried and judgment rendered as if the suit had been defended by the executor or adminis…

When there are two (2) or more administrators of an estate, and one or more of them take all the assets, or the greatest part thereof, and refuse to pay the debts or funeral expenses of the deceased, or to account with the other, the court, on petition of the aggrieved administra…

If any person shall alienate or embezzle any of the goods, chattels, personal property, or money of a person deceased, before taking out letters testamentary or of administration, such person shall be liable to the action of creditors and other persons aggrieved, as being executo…

In any proceeding to contest the validity of a will, all persons interested in such contest shall be made parties.

The executor or administrator of an executor de son tort shall be liable to a recovery to the extent of the value of the property received or held by such executor de son tort, if sufficient assets shall have been received to pay the same. Any one who may have become liable as ex…

No executor, administrator, guardian, receiver or other fiduciary appointed by or acting pursuant to the authority of any chancery court may borrow or use for his own benefit, directly or indirectly, any of the funds or property of the estate committed or entrusted to him by such…

An executor, administrator, guardian, receiver, or other fiduciary appointed by or acting pursuant to the authority of any chancery court may sell, assign, or transfer any note, bill of exchange, bond, stock certificate, or other negotiable paper belonging to the estate committed…

The executor or administrator shall take proper steps speedily to ascertain whether the estate be solvent or insolvent. If both the real and personal estate be insufficient to pay the debts of the deceased, he shall exhibit to the court a true account of all the personal estate, …

Any creditor of the decedent may represent to the court that the estate is insolvent, and thereupon the executor or administrator and heirs or devisees shall be summoned to answer whether or not it be insolvent. If it shall be found so, like proceedings shall be had as when an es…

Where an estate is found to be insolvent after a sale of all the property, real and personal, it may be decreed to be insolvent and be proceeded with accordingly.

If an estate be declared insolvent after the executor or administrator has made publication to the creditors to present their claims and have them probated and registered, another publication to present claims shall not be necessary. If an estate be declared insolvent before the …

When the time for probating and registering claims has elapsed, the court shall cause notice to be inserted for three successive weeks in some newspaper published in the county that at a time fixed the claims will be taken up for examination and adjudication by the court or by th…

On the trial of an issue made up to determine the validity of a will which has been duly admitted to probate, such probate shall be prima facie evidence of the validity of the will.

When the claims are established and the amount of assets ascertained, the court shall adjudge the pro rata share of each creditor, deducting first the preference claims and deducting from debts not due the legal interest from the time of payment up to the time of their maturity; …

A suit or action which may be pending against an executor or administrator at the time the estate is reported insolvent shall not, on that account, abate, but may be prosecuted to final judgment. The judgment shall constitute a claim against the estate, if probated and registered…

A suit or action shall not be brought against an executor or administrator on any claim against the decedent after the estate has been declared insolvent.

Every executor or administrator, at least once in each year or oftener if required by the court, shall present under oath an account of his administration, showing the disbursements, every item of which and the amount thereof to be distinctly stated, and it shall also show the re…

In annual and final settlements, the executor, administrator, or guardian shall be entitled to credit for such reasonable sums as he may have paid for the services of an attorney in the management or in behalf of the estate, if the court be of the opinion that the services were p…

Unless the court or chancellor has, by order entered on the minutes, designated another annual term for that purpose, it shall be the duty of the clerk at the first term of the chancery court of his county in each year to make up a complete and impartial list of all executors and…

Whenever it shall appear of record, or otherwise, that any executor, administrator, guardian, receiver, or fiduciary appointed by any chancery court is derelict in the performance of any duty required of him by law or the orders of the court or chancellor, or is liable to be puni…

If the citation be returned unexecuted because such fiduciary cannot be found after diligent search by the sheriff to whom it is directed, then the clerk shall make and file among the papers in the cause an affidavit stating such information as he may have been able to ascertain …

If on the return day it shall appear that the citation has been served in this state, or publication made in the manner required by Section 91-7-287, the court or chancellor may proceed to hear the matter, and may remove or punish such fiduciary, either or both, or make such othe…

On the trial of such issue, the proponent of the will shall have the affirmative of the issue and be entitled to all the rights of one occupying such position. The witnesses shall be examined orally before the jury, except where in the circuit court depositions would be admissibl…

When the estate has been administered by payment of the debts and the collection of the assets, it shall be the duty of the executor or administrator, unless the court or chancellor, on cause shown, shall otherwise order, to make and file a final settlement of the administration …

The executor or administrator shall file with his final account a written statement, under oath, of the names of the heirs or devisees and legatees of the estate, so far as known, specifying particularly which, if any, are under the age of twenty-one years, of unsound mind, or co…

The final account so presented, with the statement as to parties, shall remain on file, subject to the inspection of any person interested. Summons shall be issued or publication be made for all parties interested, as in other suits in the chancery court, to appear at a term of t…

If process be returned executed, or publication has been made, the court shall examine the final account so presented and filed, hear the evidence in support of it, and the objections and evidence against it. If the court shall be satisfied that the account is correct, it shall m…

On the final settlement the court shall make allowance to the executor or administrator for the property or the estate which has been lost, or has perished or decreased in value, without his fault; and profit shall not be allowed him in consequence of increase. The court shall al…

When any last will and testament is exhibited to be proved, the court may take the probate thereof, and any one interested in a will may propound it for probate. Summons may be issued by the clerk for the subscribing witnesses, or for other witnesses, to be examined as to such wi…

When personal property of a deceased person cannot be equally divided in kind, the court may, on petition, decree a sale of such property and order a distribution of the proceeds; and such sale may be for cash or on credit, as the court may direct. All parties interested as distr…

Any person entitled to a distributive share of an intestate’s estate, or to a legacy under a last will and testament, may, at any time after the expiration of six months from the grant of letters testamentary or of administration, petition the court therefor, setting forth his cl…

(1) Whenever under any last will and testament or trust indenture the executor, trustee, or other fiduciary is required to, or has an option to, satisfy a bequest, devise, or transfer in trust to or for the benefit of the surviving spouse of a decedent by a transfer of assets of …