Title 33, Title 33 Practice and Procedure

If a person named as executor in a will has deceased, or is incompetent, or refuses to accept the trust, or neglects to qualify for thirty (30) days after the probate of a will, or within thirty (30) days after notice of probate, as provided in § 33-7-9, the court shall grant let…

If a testator shall appoint more than one executor of his or her will, and any of them die or do not qualify, or, having qualified, shall die, resign, or be removed, or become incapable of acting, those who for the time being are qualified to act shall, unless otherwise provided …

The executor of an executor shall not, as such, administer the estate of the first testator.

No person not an inhabitant of this state shall be appointed administrator by reason of any right to the trust, unless other circumstances, in the opinion of the court, render the appointment proper.

Administration of the estate of a person dying intestate shall be granted as follows: (1) To the widow or surviving husband or one or more of the next of kin, or to the widow or surviving husband jointly with one or more of the next of kin, they being suitable persons and compete…

If a will which disposes of only a part of the estate of a testator is admitted to probate, the executor of the will, or the administrator with the will annexed, shall, unless otherwise provided in the will, and except as provided in the second clause of § 33-8-8, be ex officio t…

Every administrator and every executor, shall, within ninety (90) days after his or her appointment or such longer period as may be allowed by the probate court, return to the probate court, under oath, a true inventory of all the personal property, both tangible and intangible, …

The executor or administrator may sell the mortgage and the debt secured thereby in his or her discretion for the amount due thereon, and may sell the mortgage and the debt for a less amount upon obtaining the advice and direction therefor of the probate court upon a petition fil…

The executor or administrator may take the surrender of, or sue in ejectment for, the seisin and possession of the real estate mortgaged as provided in § 33-9-9; in which action it shall be sufficient for him or her to declare on the seisin and possession of the testator or intes…

Upon recovery or surrender of possession of real estate mortgaged as provided in § 33-9-11, the executor or administrator shall be seised and possessed of the mortgaged estate, subject to liability to sale if necessary for the payment of debts, legacies or charges, of administrat…

After surrender or recovery of possession of real estate mortgaged as provided in § 33-9-11, and before sale as provided in § 33-9-12, or in case the testator or intestate die possessed of any real estate mortgaged to him or her which may be redeemed, if the mortgagor, his or her…

Whenever it shall for any reason appear to be desirable for an executor or administrator to borrow money, the superior court, upon bill or petition in equity filed by the executor or administrator, may authorize the executor or administrator to borrow, for any one or more of the …

Borrowing may be authorized for any one or more of the following purposes: (1) To discharge any existing lien or mortgage on the real or personal estate of the decedent; (2) To pay the debts of the decedent; (3) To pay the funeral expenses; (4) To pay the charges of administratio…

Any borrowing authorized as provided in § 33-9-14 shall create a debt of the estate, and any mortgage, pledge, or lien authorized as provided in § 33-9-14 shall be, to the extent and in the manner authorized, binding upon the property so mortgaged; provided, however that nothing …

No person lending money to an executor or administrator who has been authorized to borrow by the court in accordance with the provisions of §§ 33-9-14 — 33-9-16 shall be required to see to the application or be answerable for any loss or misapplication thereof.

(a) The superior court may, upon complaint filed by an executor or administrator, authorize the executor or administrator to invest money belonging to the estate in such safe investments as it may approve, and may likewise authorize or direct the executor or administrator to vote…

Nothing contained in §§ 33-9-14 — 33-9-18 shall be held to limit or restrict any powers which an executor or administrator may have apart from the provisions of those sections.

The wearing apparel of a deceased person, not including jewels and watches, shall not be included in the inventory nor be assets for the payment of debts, and if not bequeathed shall be distributed according to law.

Whenever in any proceeding under §§ 33-9-14 — 33-9-18 there are contingent interests of persons not in being or not ascertainable or interests of persons non sui juris, the court may appoint a person to represent the contingent interests or a guardian ad litem to represent the in…

An appeal may be taken to the supreme court from any final order or decree of the superior court entered in any proceeding brought under the provisions of §§ 33-9-14 — 33-9-18 at any time within ten (10) days from the entry of the order or decree.

When an executor or administrator is removed, or when letters of administration or decrees are revoked, all previous sales whether of real or personal estate, lawfully made by an executor or administrator and with good faith on the part of the purchaser, and all other lawful acts…

When a person dies holding the legal title to property, real or personal, and an action for specific performance of contract for sale thereof would have existed as against the deceased had he or she lived, a complaint against the executor or administrator alone of the deceased ma…

In case any action, suit, or proceeding is commenced or shall be pending in any court, and either party shall die before final judgment, the executor or administrator of the deceased person, or his or her successor in case the deceased was acting in a representative capacity, may…

Whenever any judgment shall have been recovered by or in the name of any executor or administrator, a succeeding administrator of the estate not administered may on motion be substituted as plaintiff and may take out execution upon the judgment.

Any person who shall embezzle or shall, without being thereto authorized by law, injuriously intermeddle with any personal property of a deceased person shall be liable as an executor in his or her own wrong to the creditors and other persons aggrieved.

No executor or administrator, except an executor in his or her own wrong, shall be holden to bail upon mesne process, nor shall his or her property be attached, nor his or her person arrested, nor his or her person or property taken on execution, for the debts or legacies of the …

If execution shall issue against the estate of the testator or intestate in the hands of the executor or administrator, and the officer charged with the service thereof shall return thereon that he or she cannot find any estate whereon to levy the execution, and that the executio…

When the real property of any deceased person, or any part thereof or interest therein, is devised or distributed or set out to the devisee or devisees, heir or heirs, or spouse of the decedent, or is legally divided by all the persons interested, or descends to the heir or heirs…

If any testator or intestate shall die after March 1 in any year, all the emblements of his or her lands that shall be severed before December 31 next following shall be included in the inventory and be assets in the hands of his or her executor or administrator; but all emblemen…

An executor or administrator may donate a conservation easement on any real property in order to obtain the benefit of the estate tax exclusion allowed under sections 170 and 2031(c), respectively, of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, if: (1) The will a…

(a) The property comprised in the inventory shall be appraised by the executor or administrator. (b) Upon the petition of any party in interest, the court may appoint one or more appraisers to value assets of the estate specified in the petition. The appraisers shall be sworn to …

The appointment of a debtor as an executor shall in no case be deemed an extinguishment of the debt; but all such debts shall be accounted for as assets by the executor, unless otherwise directed by the will.

An executor or administrator of a solvent estate may erect a headstone, and with the permission of the probate court may erect a monument, and with like permission an executor or administrator of an insolvent estate may erect a headstone at the grave of his testator or intestate.…

Executors and administrators may be authorized by the probate court before which the estate is in settlement to work up and complete any stock and materials in an unfinished state, or to continue any business of the decedent so far as may be expedient for the prudent winding up o…

The executor or administrator, if there be sufficient assets, may redeem all property of the deceased under mortgage, pledge, or levy, the redemption of which would increase the value of the estate, or he or she may sell the property subject to incumbrance; and the executor or ad…

Debts due by mortgage of real estate and the mortgaged premises shall, unless the mortgage be foreclosed and the equity barred in the lifetime of the testator or intestate, be considered personal property for every purpose in settling the estates of deceased persons.

The wearing apparel of the surviving spouse and minor children of a decedent shall belong to them, respectively. The surviving spouse shall be entitled, individually and for the family under her or his care, to such furniture, furnishings, household effects, supplies, and, in add…

Such part of the decedent’s personal property as the court shall allow to the decedent’s surviving spouse or family, although inventoried, shall not be assets in the hands of the decedent’s personal representative.

The probate court shall make reasonable allowance out of the decedent’s probate estate for the support of his or her family, until the support can otherwise be provided for, for a period not exceeding six (6) months from the date of the death, having regard to the situation of th…

If there be no issue of a deceased person living at the time of his or her death, the probate court shall also allow and set off to the widow or widower such portion of the real estate of her or his deceased spouse not required for the payment of his or her debts as may be suitab…

As used in this chapter: (1) “Decedent” means any person whose life is taken by a slayer; (2) “Property” shall include any real and personal property and any right or interest therein; (3) “Slayer” means any person who wilfully and unlawfully takes or procures to be taken the lif…

(a) As to any exercise of a power of appointment in favor of the slayer in the will of the decedent, the slayer shall be deemed to have predeceased the decedent and the appointment to have lapsed. (b) Property held either presently or in remainder by the slayer subject to be dive…

(a) Insurance proceeds payable to the slayer as the beneficiary or assignee of any policy or certificate of insurance on the life of the decedent or as the survivor of a joint life policy, even though such policy or certificate was procured and maintained by the slayer and even t…

Any insurance company making payment according to the terms of its policy or any bank or other person performing an obligation for the slayer as one of several joint obligors shall not be subjected to additional liability by the terms of this chapter if such payment or performanc…

The provisions of this chapter shall not affect the rights of any person who, before the interests of the slayer have been adjudicated, purchases from the slayer for value and without notice property which the slayer would have acquired except for the terms of this chapter; but a…

The record of his or her conviction of having wilfully and unlawfully killed the decedent shall be admissible in evidence against a claimant of property in any civil action arising under this chapter.